


Oh, Baby, Baby

by Rosie2009



Series: Descendants Fanfiction [48]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Disney - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosie2009/pseuds/Rosie2009
Summary: Mal is sleeping over at Evie's place one night when she ends up sleepwalking and sleep-eating. Naturally, this leads to trouble. But the type of trouble it caused was what no one could have expected. Let's just say Mal's being a real "baby" about it. Mal and Evie friendship/sister feels, Uma friendship feels with Mal and Evie, Core Four feels, Bal, Huma, Jarlos, and Jaudrey.
Relationships: Ben & Evie (Disney: Descendants), Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Evie & Audrey Rose (Disney), Evie & Carlos de Vil, Evie & Gil (Disney: Descendants), Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil, Evie & Jay (Disney), Evie & Mal (Disney), Evie & Uma (Disney), Gil & Harry Hook, Gil & Harry Hook & Uma, Gil & Uma (Disney: Descendants), Hades & Mal (Disney), Harry Hook/Uma, Jane/Carlos de Vil, Jay & Carlos De Vil, Jay & Mal (Disney), Jay/Audrey Rose (Disney), Mal & Carlos de Vil, Mal & Uma (Disney), Uma & Carlos de Vil
Series: Descendants Fanfiction [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1252532
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	1. Sleepwalker

“Wh- where am I?”

Mal grunted, trying to figure out where in the world she was at this point. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep next to Evie during their sleepover movie.

As she came to, she recognized Evie’s kitchen cabinets and the open refrigerator door illuminated in the barest hints of morning light. Mal furrowed her brow as she realized she was on the floor. She shakily got up, standing on her own two feet as she reached over and pushed the fridge door shut. It was odd. The door felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, and she had to push harder than usual to get it to close.

However, it didn’t take her long to realize that she wasn’t at all viewing at the height from which she was accustomed.

“What the heck?” Mal questioned in almost a squeak, and she realized that her voice was completely messed up and not at all like it usually sounded. After only a second of this, however, she quickly recognized that she wasn’t quite as balanced as she usually was either. She used the door to the refrigerator to hold herself up, and she absently looked at her hand.

Her eyes widened as she realized that she was looking at the pudgy fingers of a toddler. Mal stumbled back from the refrigerator in her surprise before looking down at her body. To her horror, she was viewing a toddler’s body as well.

“A baby?! I’m a baby?!” Mal questioned to herself, totally blown away by the fact. But it wasn’t the strangest thing that ever happened to her, so she wasn’t panicking or anything.

Mal shook her head, trying to figure out what had happened to her. She absently noticed that the taste of carrots was in her mouth, and she realized that there had to be some reason for this. Mal backed up to look at the counter, almost losing her balance and falling, and she realized a bag of baby carrots were resting on the countertop nearby the fridge.

Mal then immediately knew that she must have been sleepwalking and obviously sleep-eating as well. But she couldn’t help but wonder how she got like this.

After a moment, Mal decided that she must have said some spell that she had memorized from her spell book. However, Mal couldn’t think of any spell that she could’ve said that would’ve turned her into one, much less a spell that could change her back to her actual form. It must have been one of those memories registered only by the unconsciousness. Mal sighed, trying to at least think of what could have triggered it.

Mal’s first thought was immediately baby carrots. The baby in baby carrots must have triggered some unconscious memory of the spell and a muttering of it as well.

Either way. It honestly didn’t matter how she had gotten here. The biggest problem was how she was going to change back considering the fact that she had no idea which spell needed to be used to complete the reversal.

Mal then remembered that she was definitely not in her own home, and that Evie was there with her. Mal immediately brightened at the odd thought that Evie was going to help everything, even though Mal knew logically that Evie couldn’t do any magic that she knew of.

Unless she was counting that one time that Evie read her spell book and turned herself into a dog. But who was counting that?

Mal furrowed her brow in determination, starting her long trek toward Evie’s bedroom. And a long trek it was, especially considering that her legs were roughly a foot and a half long at this point.

Mal hurried as fast as she could go, and it was still infuriatingly slowly, but she pushed through it, hurrying toward Evie’s room. Mal almost groaned as she realized that it looked like it was shut. She had not idea how she was going to reach that ridiculously high doorknob. However, as she grew nearer, Mal realized that it was very thankfully cracked open to a degree.

Mal wrapped her small fingers around the edge of the door, pulling toward her as hard as she could. Evie had really invested in some thick wood doors, Mal couldn’t help but notice.

Mal finally had it opened enough so that her small body could slip in. Mal teetered over to the edge of Evie’s bed, and it swiftly came to her attention that Evie had obviously invested in a tall bed, too.

“Seriously?” Mal whispered to herself, her mousy voice barely disturbing the quiet of the room. Mal furrowed her brow in frustration as she started trying to jump up and climb onto the bed. Mal tried two times with just her arms grabbing, but on her third try, she decided to try to grab with her foot, too. But that only resulted in her falling down on her behind, and for some reason, she had the strangest urge to cry. However, she shook it off quickly, deciding that she was no quitter, and she was going to try one more time. After all, she had been especially close that time.

Mal attempted it once more, and this time, she just barely made it up onto the bed, managing to roll onto it safely. Mal sighed deeply, relieved that it had finally worked. She then turned her attentions to the bluenette curled beneath the covers. For some reason, Mal felt an even larger swell of affection for the girl than she usually did, and it made her want to grab onto Evie and never let go. Of course, that wasn’t an odd feeling for Mal, but this time, it was exceedingly and dramatically magnified.

Mal shook her head, clearing her mind of those thoughts before crawling over to the other girl. Mal clambered onto Evie’s stomach and looked at the girl. Evie hadn’t hardly stirred, and Mal was surprised. After all, Evie usually was an exceedingly light sleeper. But it must have been something about the fact they had a sleepover.

Evie always said that she slept better when Mal was there close to her. They had used to actually sleep in the same room and a lot of times in the same bed if there was space, but now that Mal had gotten married to Ben, Mal and Evie had to have a large transition. But Mal always made sure to have a sleepover with Evie at least once a week.

After a moment, Mal realized that Evie was most certainly not going to wake up without some prodding, so Mal wasted no time in poking Evie’s cheek. Evie’s nose twitched a bit, so Mal did it again. Evie furrowed her brow, absently reaching up and swatting lightly at whatever had touched her face. Mal giggled a bit in spite of herself before poking Evie one more time.

This time was successful, and Evie’s eyes opened sleepily as she raised up slightly before her gaze settled upon Mal where she had slid down into the bluenette’s lap.

Evie just silently gaped at the little girl as she attempted desperately to comprehend what was sitting before her.

However, after only a moment, Evie’s face contorted into one of immense fear as she started to duck underneath the covers.

“It’s that dream again!” Evie cried fearfully, diving beneath the sheets. Mal rolled her eyes, grabbing the blankets in her small, pudgy hold and pulling them away from Evie.

“It’s that one where I have a little heathen that looks and acts just like her!” Evie yelped as Mal came back into view before covering her eyes so she would have to look at the small child sitting there on her lap.

“It is me, E!” Mal announced sassily, and she couldn’t help but think it sounded so much better when she had an adult voice. Evie barely peeked out from between her fingers.

“So your dad’s not Hades, and I didn’t end up like Persephone? Dragged against my will and made his wife?” Evie questioned as she sounded somewhat terrified. Mal paused for a moment, wincing in disgust and scrunching her nose as she thought of Evie being her stepmother, and then she crossed her arms over her chest.

“No! I turned myself into a toddler!” Mal expressed, tumbling a bit over the word toddler, and she furrowed her brow in slight frustration upon realizing that she couldn’t speak as well as she usually did.

Evie was still as she watched Mal, and she raised her eyebrow carefully as she examined the child sitting there on her. Evie raised up slightly once again, reaching up and gently touching Mal’s cheek. Mal for some reason felt the urge to hug Evie then, and she threw herself onto the other girl impulsively. Evie was a bit surprised, Mal could tell by the gasp, but she wasted no time in returning the embrace warmly.

Evie stroked her hair, and Mal pulled away quickly, not really understanding what had possessed her to just jump on Evie like that. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was having some sort of toddler thoughts with her adult operations.

“Mal? How did this happen?” Evie questioned as she kept ahold of the small girl but held her at just enough of a distance to look at her face. Mal gazed up at Evie, feeling that familiar swell return again but this time it was accompanied by a feeling of safety as well.

“Well… Funny story, actually,” Mal slowly pronounced the word actually, and it frustrated her to no end, but she moved past those feelings.

“I’m listening,” Evie spoke, a bit of playfulness in her tone but primarily seriousness.

“I must have been sleepwalking. And you know that when I sleepwalk, I tend to-”

“Sleep-eat.”

“Yes. So I must have gotten into your refri- refridge- refrigitater- no!” Mal outburst in pure irritation at her lack of being able to speak properly. Mal sighed, trying it again.

“I must have gotten into your fridge, and I got out some baby carrots. That’s when some spell must have got trigg…triggered in my mind, and I said one of the trans… transform… changing spells,” Mal struggled through her explanation, and Evie nodded, although Mal could easily see that Evie was trying not to smile at Mal’s brutal fights with certain words.

“So how are you changing back?” Evie asked, her calm mocha gaze settling on Mal and sending another wave of calm through the small girl.

“We need my spell book,” Mal told her, and Evie agreed easily.

“Sure. I can ask Ben to order it for emergency from the museum,” Evie told Mal with a big grin, reaching over for her phone on the nightstand. Mal quickly grabbed onto Evie’s shirt, almost shouting her disapproval of that idea. Evie quickly stopped, her eyes wide as she looked at Mal.

“No! Don’t tell him!!! I don’t want him to know!” Mal whined before hiding her face in Evie’s chest. Evie placed a hand on the back of Mal’s head as she ran her fingers through the short purple curls.

“Why not?” Evie asked, and Mal sighed.

“‘Cause it’s embarrassing,” Mal slowly mumbled the last word, and Mal could hear the slight rumble of a chuckle in Evie’s chest from her head’s position.

“Well, what do you think we should do?” Evie questioned gently, and Mal just sighed, wondering what she really did want. However, it didn’t take her long to think of precisely what she wanted to happen.

Mal raised her head up from Evie’s chest to look at her best friend with a mischievous smile as the light of the morning shone in brightly, illuminating Evie’s features in a golden glow.

“I want you and me to go steal it tonight from the museum.”


	2. Uma's Discovery

Uma was jogging down the sidewalk in the crisp, cool air of the morning, the fresh air filling her lungs and the occasional car passing her by as they rushed to morning jobs. Uma breathed deeply, enjoying the feel of a nice, calming exercise to get her blood pumping and her mind ready for the day.

Just as she was passing the long driveway heading up to Evie’s house, Uma received a text. Which was exceedingly odd, since Uma never received texts that early in the morning.

Uma stopped in her forward motion, just jogging in place for a moment as she looked at her phone. She furrowed her brow as she realized that Evie had messaged her.

“ _Can you come to my house? I have a seriously big (or small depending on how you look at it) problem!!!_ ” Evie’s text read. Uma raised an eyebrow and stopped jogging for a moment to type something back.

“ _Sure, in front of your house rn on jog. What the prob?_ ” Uma sent, and absently wondered what the issue could be. It must have been something monumental if Evie was up on a Saturday morning at eight o’clock.

“ _Just come. I’ll explain when you get here_ ,” Evie replied after only a moment. Uma sighed deeply, finding herself more than a bit concerned as she started the hike up Evie’s driveway.

Before long, she was on Evie’s patio, headed for her front door. Uma quickly strode over to it, and she swiftly knocked on it, somewhat worried about what the other girl could have gotten into.

After a moment, however, it quickly occurred to her that Mal had said that she was going to spend the night with Evie. Uma rapped on the door once again, finding herself suddenly very fearful of whatever Evie might have gotten into with Mal.

However, before she could consider this any further, a small, purple-haired girl appeared before the glass door, and Uma’s eyeballs nearly fell out of her head as she stared. The little girl just smirked and stuck her tongue out at her before jumping up and grabbing the door handle the best she could. It was one of those handles that didn’t turn, but pulled down, and so the child was able to open the door without too much trouble.

The door slowly opened, and the little girl pushed it the rest of the way open as Uma just stared blankly.

“Hey, Shrimpy,” the kid greeted, and Uma’s eyes went wide as she was immediately carried back to memories of her and Mal as a kid and Mal’s teasing ways. Heck, this kid looked just like Mal as a child. Just as mean and mischievous, too.

“Oh, no,” Uma murmured under her breath.

“It’s that dream again,” she acknowledged aloud, remembering that one that she always had about a mean baby Mal torturing her throughout her life even into old age.

“Oh! Uma, you’re here!” Evie suddenly cried, doing that funny hurrying walk that wasn’t quite a run as she tried to move quickly. She took the purple-haired kid by the shoulders and guided her back into the house as she waved Uma in. Uma very slowly stepped across the threshold, scared of the madness that she was about to potentially have to put up with.

“Did you spawn, undergo asexual reproduction, or what is happening here? Because I do not want to be having that dream again,” Uma bewilderedly asked Evie, and Evie shook her head.

“No, none of the above. This is really Mal,” Evie clarified to the pirate, and Uma nodded slowly, staring at Mal in total shock.

“And wait… you have that dream, too?” Evie inquired curiously, and Uma shrugged, her eyes still a bit wide as she gaped at the child looking at her.

“Well, mine’s about a little Mal picking on me for all of my life even to my death. The funeral part’s always the scariest, though. What’s your version?” Uma questioned innocently, unknowing of what Evie could have concocted in her somewhat oddball brain. Evie suddenly looked really strange and concerned as she looked at the pirate captain.

“No, did I imply I dreamed of that? No, ma’am, I did not,” Evie told her quickly and Uma raised an eyebrow but dismissed it ultimately, deciding she wasn’t going to press the issue right now.

“I am so flatter… flatterated---flattered, dadgum it! That you guys dream of me so much,” Mal sarcastically commented, and Uma scoffed at the little girl, sticking her tongue out at the kid, and Mal returned it childishly.

“So how did it happen?” Uma asked, and Evie sighed slightly.

“She was sleepwalking and sleep-eating, which I don’t know who does that besides Mal-”

“Aw, Harry sleep-eats all the time. I sometimes wake up to our whole fridge empty,” Uma replied easily, and Evie furrowed her brow before nodding slowly.

“That actually makes a lot of sense. After all, they are kindred spirits-”

“Hey!” a small voice sounded off, but Evie continued in what she was saying.

“She was doing all of that when she must have sleep-talked some age changing spell triggered by baby carrots,” Evie explained, but Uma was stuck on the last part of her sentence.

“You have baby carrots in your fridge?” Uma asked, stopping Evie in her tracks. Evie nodded easily and attempted to plough right through the question.

“Yes, but-”

“What else do you have in there?” Uma questioned, and Evie took only a moment in answering her. Uma knew it wasn’t really significant, but she was quite honestly very curious.

“Plenty, but that’s not important.”

“Yes, it actually is. Let me guess, you organize everything by color and food group?” Uma teased, looking down at Mal who was giggling at Evie’s expense.

“Of course I do. Who doesn’t?” Evie asked, suddenly taking the question as seriously as Uma was, and Uma rolled her eyes, sharing a weirded-out glance with Mal.

“I don’t know. Just every normal human being in the midst of our population,” Uma pointed out, and Mal agreed completely. After a moment, Uma shook her head, through having her moment with picking on Evie, and she sobered as she looked at Uma seriously.

“But seriously. What’re we going to do about this situation? I mean, I like being able to call Mal shrimpy and everything,” Mal just narrowed her eyes at Uma as she glared at the pirate, “but I think she doesn’t really want to be this way for the rest of her life.”

Evie opened her mouth to say something to the other girl, but Mal was too fast for the bluenette.

“We’re going to the museum and we’re going to steal the spell book,” Mal announced immediately in response, and Evie closed her eyes as she didn’t even have a chance to explain it before the little faerie just burst out with the answers. Uma just watched her best friend in child mode for a moment before shaking her head.

“Nope. I guess you _are_ going to be a child for the rest of your life,” Uma shook her head, and Mal suddenly looked like she might cry as she pouted.

“You are being so mean to me! Shrimpy, Shrimpy, Shrimpy!!!” Mal stomped, crying out loudly, and Evie and Uma shared a shocked glance as they watched Mal practically start to throw a fit right in front of them.

Uma could see what Evie was thinking. It was written all in her face. Apparently, this new form melded Mal’s adult thoughts with a toddler’s thoughts and overdramatic feelings.

“Now, calm down, Mal,” Evie immediately butted in, placing her hands on Mal’s shoulders gently and Mal just looked at her with her bottom lip jutted out.

“I don’t even know why I’m so upset about this!” Mal whined, and Evie nodded slowly, bringing Mal close as she stroked the girl’s hair calmingly. Evie looked at Uma pointedly, and Uma gestured to herself with some confusion as she realized that Evie apparently wanted her to make the girl feel better.

“Hey, look. Calm down. We’ll get you back to normal. Why don’t we just ask Ben to get the book?” Uma asked, and Evie immediately started a cut-throat motion in an attempt to make Uma shut up, but it was too late. Mal spun around towards Uma, her eyes wide as they glowed a bit.

“NO!!! WE CAN’T DO THAT!!!”

“Umm… Am I allowed to ask why?” Uma questioned, looking at Evie uncertainly as Evie shook her head in slight warning.

“Because it’s embarrassing!” Mal stumbled a bit over the last word. Uma almost snorted in the midst of her amusement at the fact that her normally so articulate friend was having such issues speaking, but she controlled her first response as she nodded.

“Okay, okay! No telling Ben,” Uma replied, holding her hands out in a placating gesture. Mal nodded, and Evie sighed deeply as she released Mal from her hold in favor of standing up to speak to Uma on a more even level.

“But we can’t steal any spell books until tonight,” Evie pointed out, and Uma nodded before her eyes widened in horror at the realization that suddenly dawned upon her.

“You mean we’re stuck with her like this until tonight?!” Uma demanded, and Evie nodded just barely, biting her bottom lip as she hoped desperately that Mal wouldn’t take offense to that statement.

“What do you mean ‘stuck with me?!’” Mal yelled, and Evie shook her head, quickly scooping up Mal as she put her on her hip instinctually in her hurry over to the fridge.

“What are you doing to me?! Put me down! I’m not a baby!” Mal screeched as Evie reached in her fridge and withdrew the baby carrots from their proper place. She quickly opened the bag before withdrawing one and offering it to Mal.

“M, you want some baby carrots?” Evie asked, and Mal furrowed her brow in anger at the mere thought of Evie hand-feeding her carrots.

“Heck, no, I don’t! I’m a big girl!” Mal cried out, and Evie almost rolled her eyes in exasperation at the fact that Mal was now refusing the food that she had been eating as an adult.

“Come on, Mal, here comes the airplane!” Evie announced before making a buzzing noise with her mouth, and Mal at first looked utterly offended. However, Evie could easily see that Mal was enamored with it slightly.

“No! I am a full-grown adult!” Mal insisted, but as Evie’s airplane drew closer, Mal furrowed her brow in an attempt to fight her urge to bite into the carrot.

“No! Dang it! It’s an airplane!” Mal finally cried before letting Evie feed her the carrot.

Evie smiled widely at the fact that Mal had actually eaten the baby carrot without too much more trouble.

Honestly, Uma was getting a little creeped out by this entire exchange, and she really wasn’t sure whether she admired Evie for her ingenuity in distracting the little girl or if she was just plain ready to run because of how strange it was.

“Well, if y’all got it all under control here, I’m gonna go. I’ll meet y’all at the museum this evening,” Uma told them, starting to back out as she reached for the door handle behind her.

“What? Are you chicken?” Mal asked, looking away from the carrots Evie had in favor of staring at Uma with mischief. Uma raised an eyebrow at the kid.

“Nope. Just wise,” Uma replied shortly, and Mal started making clucking noises, mocking the pirate as she picked on her fully. Uma just scoffed in response, and Evie looked between the two of them with interest, secretly rooting for Mal to win.

“Yeah, yeah, just laugh it up,” Uma told her.

“I think you’re too scared to stay!” Mal announced and Evie just looked at Uma with a slight grin tugging at the corners of her lips. Uma glared quietly at the small faerie, and the little girl stared her down in return.

After a few more moments of this, Uma sighed deeply in resignation.

“Fine. But I better be getting some baby carrots out of it.”

“Sure!” Evie happily spoke before walking over to Uma with a baby carrot, making airplane noises all the way. Uma furrowed her brow, holding her arms out as she tried to keep Evie’s incoming airplane at bay.

“And don’t you dare try that danged airplane trick on me!”


	3. These Boots are Made for Walking

“I’m boooooooooorrrrreeeeddddd,” Mal whined, laying on the couch upside down as she complained for what felt like the millionth time. Uma was sunk down in the armchair, her fingernails dug into the arm rests. She honestly wasn’t sure how much more of this she could handle. Her and Evie had sat down about an hour ago to just talk and to subtly test to see how great of a conversation that Mal could carry in her current form. After about ten minutes of Mal in all of her bellyaching, Evie had excused herself and hadn’t returned yet.

“Ummmmaaaa???” Mal questioned, and Uma closed her eyes before reopening them to look at Mal with what she hoped was some patience.

“What?”

“Guess what?” Mal asked, her green eyes locking onto Uma’s, and Uma sighed, really dreading what she knew what was about to come out of the kid’s mouth.

“You’re bored?” Uma tried, but Mal did it anyway.

“I’m booooooooooooorrrrrrrreeedddddd,” Mal drug out again, and Uma bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something that she would have normally said to the regular Mal.

“I offered to let you watch TV,” Uma told her, almost whining herself at this point, and Mal shook her head with a loud groan.

“I don’t want to watch TVVVVV,” Mal told her, keeping that same drawl as she complained some more. Mal just kept dragging out that same note, and Uma was quite honestly ready to scream, tear her hair out, or drag Evie in here and whoop her butt in front of Mal and whoever else wanted to see.

“Here, guys, I’m back,” Evie suddenly announced as she entered the room with two child-sized outfits, and Uma almost stood up and embraced her in the midst of her relief that the bluenette finally came back.

“Finally!” Uma cried, and Evie just offered the other girl a raise of an eyebrow and a slight smile of amusement.

“I’m sorry it took so long. I just had to make these.”

Evie sat down carefully next to Mal, and Mal clambered into her lap with a big grin. Evie easily received her, holding the two outfits in her hands as she examined her handiwork and allowed Mal to crawl underneath her arm and onto her legs. Mal furrowed her brow as she realized that she had just crawled onto Evie’s lap, but she settled down there anyway, deciding it was too comfortable for her to truly even attempt to move.

Uma looked at the outfits that Evie sewed, and she raised an eyebrow as she noted the details, impressed with Evie’s fast yet thorough work. However, after only a moment, she knew that Mal wouldn’t like the clothes Evie had made.

One of them had a small black denim jacket along with a green shirt beneath it and an enormous, puffy, purple tutu with some cute red sneakers. Uma honestly had no idea that Evie was able to make shoes, but she didn’t question it.

The second one was an eggplant colored dress that fanned out around the little girl’s knees with a green headband with a big, gaudy black rose attached to it. The dress had a green sash with a smaller, but still large black rose on it as well.

Uma just huffed, trying to figure out why Evie had gone to all of this trouble when they weren’t even going anywhere. Evie looked up at her curiously before quickly noting just how confused that Uma looked.

“Oh, I had to get her something to wear so we’d be ready to go to the park,” Evie told Uma, and Mal immediately perked up, looking at Evie excitedly.

“Finally! We get to do something outside of this horrible, boring house!” Mal exclaimed happily, and Uma was somewhere between relieved that they were getting out and irritated that Evie didn’t tell her this sooner.

“So that’s why you left me with the baby?” Uma asked, and Evie just looked at her somewhat apologetically.

“I’m sorry. I just got the ideas for these outfits and an idea to get her out of the house, so I just had to run on creativity,” Evie explained herself with a slight shrug, and Uma sighed deeply before ultimately deciding to let it go.

“Whew, those are some fluffy, gaudy princess outfits. I wonder why you made those,” Mal acknowledged, that squeaky little voice speaking up again, and Evie looked down at the little girl with a strange expression. Mal froze after she met Evie’s eyes and her eyes went wide as she realized precisely what Evie was wanting her to do.

“No! No, no, no! I am not wearing that!” Mal declared stubbornly, crossing her pudgy little arms over her chest with irritation as she glared meanly at the outfits that Evie was holding up.

“Mal, these are very pretty, and I worked very hard on them,” Evie explained, trying to placate the girl but afraid that she was just making it worse because of her somewhat condescending tone.

“Where’s the leather?!” Mal cried, and Evie sighed as she examined the outfits.

“Little girls don’t wear leather, Mal.”

“I’m not a little girl! I’m an adult! Besides, back on the Isle we wore leather as kids!” Mal adamantly insisted as she looked up at Evie in frustration.

“Yes, but Auradon little girls don’t wear leather. Auradon boys don’t either, for that matter,” Evie acknowledged as she considered that thought for a moment.

“I don’t care! I’m an Isle girl!” Mal stubbornly declared, and Evie sighed deeply, trying to think of some way to handle this child that was really her best friend with overmagnified thoughts and feelings.

“Look, put your little butt in one of those outfits or we aren’t leaving this house,” Uma proclaimed, and it suddenly occurred to her exactly what she had promised as she realized she was locking herself into confinement with Mal while she was being this irritating little brat. Uma’s eyes went wide, but she realized that she was going to have to stick by her statement firmly. Despite the fact that at this point, she felt like running for her life.

Mal glared quietly at the two outfits before finally pointing at the one with the black denim jacket. Evie’s face lit up in a large, relieved grin as she sat down her other outfit and picked up Mal. She then sat her down so that the little girl was standing right in front of her knees to allow Evie easier access to change her clothes.

Uma just looked away, truly not interested in watching this situation. Things were weird enough as they were.

After a few moments of Mal complaining and Evie gently reprimanding as she made various comments about Mal’s clothes as well as absent notes about what she could do better next time.

“I could improve this next time,” Evie mumbled to herself, and Uma turned back around to look at her.

“There ain’t gonna be a next time,” Uma firmly asserted and Evie looked at her blankly before nodding quickly in recognition.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. Force of habit,” Evie told her before helping Mal into the jacket carefully. Mal breathed out through her nose in exasperation as Evie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. As soon as Evie had moved on to fluff Mal’s tutu, Mal pulled the lock away so that it was hanging loosely and messily like she liked it. Uma almost snorted but refrained just barely.

“Are you done?” Mal asked, somewhere between her usual self and an impatient toddler. Of course, on a regular basis, Mal reminded Uma of an impatient toddler, despite her actual size.

“Yeah, just let me take care of your shoes,” Evie told her before lifting the girl back up so that she was on the couch. Evie stood up and started to slide them over the socks Mal had fortunately shrunk with.

After a few moments, Evie finally finished, and she looked back up at Mal’s face. Evie sighed tiredly before tucking the loose lock of hair back in its proper place. Mal’s face scrunched up into a pout, but Evie instinctually kissed her nose in response as she would any baby that was looking that cute.

Mal giggled, and then tried to muster a mean glare at Evie, partially irritated with herself since she had lost her wrath so quickly and effectively. Evie just smiled before straightening and looking to Uma.

“You ready to go?” Evie asked, and Uma nodded as she started to get up. Mal hopped off of the couch and stepped near Evie, trying to strike one of her usual sassy poses with a hip jutted out. Uma just laughed in reply, and Mal hurried to follow Uma as she started for the front door.

“What are you laughing at?” Mal demanded, and Uma just rolled her eyes.

“You, Shrimpy,” Uma replied, and she sighed in satisfaction at the fact that she could now say it just because of the pure size difference between the two of them.

“You just wait until I’m an adult. I’ll be whooping your butt all over the place,” Mal told her, and Uma just looked down at the kid as they headed out onto Evie’s patio.

“Yeah… Without magic, huh?” Uma asked, and Mal nodded resolutely.

“Easily,” Mal replied, and Uma just rolled her eyes, knowing she’d win a fight if her and Mal were going at it. Evie passed by the two and started over to her car. Uma followed along behind her, and Mal scurried to catch up.

“Hang on a sec, E!” Mal cried, and Uma almost thought the kid looked cute. But Uma immediately reprimanded herself. That was a little strange to think her normally anything but cute best friend was being cute right now, despite whatever age she was or how appropriate the description could currently be fitted to her.

Evie slowed down purposefully so Mal could catch up and when Evie started to bend down to pick her up, Mal froze.

“Nuh-uh, not again. I’m a big girl,” Mal told her, and Evie nodded understandingly before opening the back door of her Jeep known as Charlene. Evie started to reach down and give Mal a boost, but she furrowed her brow as she suddenly came to a certain realization.

Uma pulled open the passenger seat of the Jeep, and she got in, buckling in swiftly. She sat there for a moment, but when she realized that Evie wasn’t putting Mal in, she turned around to look at the both of them. She tilted her head slightly as she realized Evie had this extremely perplexed look on her face.

“What’s the problem?” Uma asked, and Evie pursed her lips.

“Well… I don’t have a kiddy carseat,” Evie explained, and Uma just raised an eyebrow in a show of her purely unimpressed emotions.

“Just put her in there and buckle her up like an adult. What’s the big deal?” Uma asked, and Evie sighed slightly as she shook her head.

“The big deal is that it’s against the law. Besides, what if we had an accident? She could get hurt badly,” Evie explained to Uma worriedly as she looked down at Mal who was casually ripping paper towels that came from Evie’s pocket on the back of the seat. Evie was quick to bend down and take them from her carefully, placing them back where they belonged as Mal protested.

Uma nodded slowly as she considered what Evie had said.

“Yeah… With the way you drive, we’ve got a sixty-forty chance of dying in a car wreck,” Uma pointed out, and Evie’s narrowed slightly in disdain and slight offense.

“Why don’t you just put her in your lap up here in the front then? You’ll have a better hold on her then,” Uma told her and Evie shook her head with wide eyes.

“That’s even more dangerous!” Evie cried, and Uma just groaned.

“Are you serious? You mean I just walked all the way over here, shut my door, buckled in, and got ready to go in the car when we really had no carseat for the kid-”

“I’m not a kid!”

“And I’m going to have to walk anyway?” Uma asked, and Evie just nodded somewhat sheepishly as she backed away from Charlene, pulling Mal along with her, and shut the door swiftly.

Uma unbuckled and got out of the Jeep begrudgingly. She shut her door before joining Evie at the rear of the vehicle. Uma absently checked her phone to see what time it was.

“Well, Mal, are you ready for a walk?” Evie questioned, and Mal shrugged adorably.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Mal agreed, and with a small sigh from each respectively, the three of them all headed out toward the park that was a ten-minute drive away but about a twenty-minute walk.

However, after only five minutes of walking, there was the beginnings of whining once again.

“My feet hurt…”


	4. Plastic Balls

“How long is this going to take?” Mal whined, and Uma checked her phone instinctually in hopes of seeing that it was 12:00 PM or at least getting closer to nightfall, despite the fact that she logically could see that it was nowhere near sundown.

It was 10:34 AM. Only 10:34 AM. Uma could almost scream. She felt like she had been dealing with this kid and her whining for hours. Realistically, it had been a little more than one hour, but Uma was exhausted and tired of taking care of a child despite the fact that they had barely gotten through much of the day ahead of them.

Of course, her whining had died down since Evie and Uma had started trading her around and taking turns piggy-back riding her.

At this moment, Evie was the one carrying her, and they could see the beginnings of the large concrete brick fencing around the edges of the park. Mal was resting her head on Evie’s back as Evie hauled her along without complaint. However, Uma knew Evie had to be getting tired. Uma could see it from the way that Evie’s peppy walk had reduced significantly in energetic optimism.

“M, we’re almost there, you see it?” Evie asked, and Uma could now hear the exhaustion in her voice. However, Mal immediately perked up, raising her head up so she could see what Evie was talking about. Mal’s face lit up in a grin and she pointed at the park.

“Run, Evie, run!” Mal called, and Evie’s posture visibly slumped at the thought of having to run all the way there, despite the fact that it wasn’t so far away.

“Mal… Can’t we walk, please?” Evie asked, and Uma was mostly certain that at this point that Evie was practically begging for some manner of easiness from the child.

But Mal was not a merciful person.

“Hurry, Evie!” Mal cried, and Evie sighed deeply before starting to walk just a bit faster and almost jog. Uma sighed, keeping up with them easily, because contrary to Evie’s belief, the bluenette was not moving fast.

When they finally reached the gate to the park, all three of them were wide-eyed at the sights that they were currently looking upon.

“Wow,” Mal whispered, and Evie’s just nodded a bit as they all gaped at the festival that had come to town.

There was an innumerable amount of activities in the park at this point. There was a ball pit, one of those super trampolines that one had to be strapped in to use, a bouncy house, and what appeared to be some types of carnival games. Evie and Uma shared a slow glance as Mal started demanding that Evie let her down.

“E, put me down! Hey, come on! We’re going to go and check out that place! I mean, I’m an adult and everything, but how many times do you have the chance to get in a ball pit?” Mal asked as she tried to make Evie let her go.

Evie didn’t have a single problem with taking Mal over to go and look as well as play the games and do the activities, but what she did have a problem with was the fact that she had just remembered a piece of vital information. Jay and Carlos had been talking about taking Audrey and Jane to the festival on a date.

Which would make it very hard to keep Mal’s current condition a secret from them.

Evie knew that there were plenty of opportunities for the three of them to get caught by surprise at the festival. However, she also was aware that the crowds of people could work to the three girls’ advantage.

Ultimately, Evie sighed deeply before helping Mal down, knowing that she wouldn’t hear the end of it until Mal had at the very least tried out the ball pit. Mal immediately started to hurry in the direction of the ball pit, and Evie grabbed her around her waist, picking her up and putting her back in front of Evie.

“Hey? What’s the big idea? C’mon, E, I might be in a child’s body, but I’m still an adult,” Mal pointed out sassily in that cute little voice, and Evie couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“Look, we need to be careful. Jay, Audrey, Carlos, and Jane are around here. And besides, hold my hand, would you? It’s dangerous out in the world for a little girl,” Evie explained, and Mal just groaned loudly.

“I’m not a little girl,” Mal stubbornly proclaimed, and Evie sighed slightly, aiming to say something insightful, before Uma piped up with her own version of understanding.

“Well, nevertheless, you look just like one, so you are what you look like.”

“I thought it was don’t judge a book by its cover,” Mal shot back, and Uma rolled her eyes before replying.

“You are what you eat. And you’ve been eating baby carrots,” Uma quipped, and Mal immediately shut up with a sullen look on her face.

Evie gave them both a disapproving glance before Evie offered her hand for Mal to take. Mal just glared at the outstretched appendage for a moment. She then sighed deeply and took Evie’s hand in her own halfheartedly. Evie smiled slightly, having to do most of the work to keep Mal’s hand in hers.

It was rather humorous actually. Under any other circumstances, Mal wouldn’t have a single problem taking Evie’s hand and would probably have done it of her own free will. Of course, that was when she was an adult and not a child. Now it was the principle of the thing.

Evie squeezed Mal’s hand slightly, and they then made the trek to the ball pit.

Before long, they were right next to it, and they realized that there were already a whole lot of other children in it as well. Uma headed over to get a nearby picnic table so her and Evie could watch Mal. Evie sighed deeply as she stood next to the pit. She had very worrisomely note that there were several kids participating that looked like they were bigger than Mal by a pretty large amount.

“You be careful, okay?” Evie told her as she sighed, very hesitantly releasing the little girl. Mal nodded shortly, waving Evie away as she jumped into the pit immediately. Evie furrowed her brow, but stepped back and accompanied Uma at the picnic table.

She sat down in her usual proper manner, and Uma raised an eyebrow at her as she gave her a onceover.

“You worried?” Uma questioned, and Evie looked at Uma with a slight nod.

“Yeah. A little.”

“She’ll be fine. You’re forgetting that she’s thinking with an adult brain. Before you know it, she’ll have all of those kids ran out of the pit because of something she told them that they were entirely too young to be hearing,” Uma explained with a slight grin at the thought, and Evie just nodded to her, undeniably feeling a bit better.

However, after a few moments, she felt a stare, and Evie instinctually looked at the woman that was sitting not too far from the both of them. She was staring at the two of them, but particularly Evie with disdain. Evie just offered the woman a small smile and a wave.

“Is one of them yours? I sort of think you’re too young to be having children, but it’s really none of my business,” the woman spoke, and Evie’s went wide as she gaped at the woman.

“No! No, I don’t have any children,” Evie replied with a laugh, and the woman looked even more weirded out.

“So who was that girl you were helping into the ball pit?”

“Oh, she’s my best friend,” Evie replied, and she immediately realized how that sounded.

“Aaaaand my sister,” Evie picked up quickly after her last statement in order to pull it off like it was natural. After all, it would be sort of strange if she had a kid and she wasn’t its mother or of any real relation to it. Of course Evie knew Mal was her sister, but she was currently so thrown for a loop by the thought of being her mother that Evie was almost totally out of her mind.

“Oh. And who are you?” the woman asked Uma somewhat accusingly, and Uma raised an eyebrow, not impressed with how the woman was treating her and especially Evie.

“I’m Rip Van Winkle. Who the heck are you?” Uma questioned, and Evie shot her a small look of reprimanding for her rudeness, but she couldn’t help but think that the woman had deserved it since the lady was being so rude.

“I am so sorry. This is my sister,” Evie told the woman, placing a hand on Uma’s arm, and Uma almost laughed at the statement. The woman looked between Uma and Evie before looking in the direction of the child in the ball pit.

“That girl in the ball pit is your sister, and this one is, too,” the woman stated in a manner that was more of a question.

“This one’s adopted,” Evie effortlessly explained as she patted Uma’s arm in her grasp. Uma raised her eyebrows, impressed at Evie’s skillful cover-up. The woman just nodded slowly, looking at the both of them a bit strangely before returning her gaze to the ball pit to watch her child. Evie looked at Uma with a big grin, and Uma returned it slightly before they both turned back to look at Mal.

However, after only a few moments, it quickly became apparent that Mal was nowhere in the ball pit. Evie shot up from her place on the seat and hurried over to the ball pit, looking for the little girl in the midst of all of the plastic balls.

“Mal? Mal?!” Evie called, and Uma came near her to help her look.

“Mal?!” Evie cried, and Uma opened her mouth to speak, but Evie quickly interrupted.

“She could be drowning in balls,” Evie spoke before wasting no time in kicking her shoes off and diving into the balls with all of the children. Uma’s eyes went wide as she gaped at the bluenette that was on her hands and knees and trying to dig through plastic balls.

“Mal?! MAL?! Answer me!” Evie screeched, and all of the kids stopped in their playing to stare at her. After only a moment, a particularly mean little turd made the decision to throw his ball at Evie’s head.

It bounced off, and Evie’s gaze snapped to the little boy, a scold on her tongue.

“Now look here, young man-”

But Evie couldn’t scold much more since every child in the ball pit started to chuck balls at her head as hard and fast as they could.

“Stop! Stop it!” Evie cried, and Uma just stood on the sidelines, watching in some emotion between sympathy and amusement.

“What is she doing?” a tiny voice suddenly questioned, and Uma looked down next to her to see Mal standing right next to her, a confused look on the little girl’s face. Uma offered the girl a slight expression of relief, shortly thereafter continuing to stare at Evie as she was mauled by every ball in the pit.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Uma replied slowly while she shook her head slightly at Evie as she kept getting smacked in the head with plastic balls.

Eventually, two guys that were supervising the area--- or supposed to be, they obviously were not supervising well--- came over to see what was going on.

“What are you kids doing?” one of them questioned, and Uma quickly recognized him as Dakota, the son of Pocahontas.

“Wait, Miss, you aren’t supposed to be in here. This is only for kids,” the other one told her, and it was Christian, Anna and Kristoff’s son and Hannah’s younger brother.

Evie looked up at them and started to say something, but she was smacked in the head quickly by that little boy that started it all, and Evie’s eyes narrowed as she pointed at him warningly.

“Don’t you dare,” Evie told him sternly before looking up at the two boys with a giant guilty, embarrassed grin as she took Dakota’s outstretched hand to help her up.

“You might want to watch out for those kids. They’ll get the better of you,” Dakota joked in his usual friendly manner, and Evie just smiled widely as she tried to dissipate her own feelings of humiliation at being totally pummeled by a bunch of kids.

“Yeah, well, you see, I was trying to save my little sister. She was drowning in the balls, and I still haven’t managed to find her,” Evie pointed out worriedly as she almost looked as if she might jump back into the ball pit in the midst of her sheer concern.

“Evie? I’m over here,” Mal pointed out and Uma offered Evie a little wave as she flashed a large grin. Evie’s smile faded as she stared at the both of them.

“Oh, well, I guess I was the one drowning in balls,” Evie pointed out with a laugh, giving one of those giant one-thousand-watt smiles before backing away with a wave.

Dakota and Christian shared a glance, and Dakota almost looked as if he might laugh, but Evie quickly started to leave.

“I’ll be seeing you!” Evie called, waving as she hurried over to Mal and Uma. Evie knelt down in front of Mal and took her shoulders in her hands, examining Mal carefully. Once she was sure that the girl wasn’t injured, Evie brought her close into a tight hug.

“Don’t scare me like that,” Evie told her, a hand on the back of Mal’s head as she held her near.

“Evie, I think you’re scaring yourself. I am perfectly fine,” Mal replied, but her arms nevertheless wrapped around Evie, too. Evie sighed deeply before letting go of the little girl. She cupped Mal’s face in her hands before giving her a kiss to her forehead.

Evie straightened quickly, and she took Mal’s hand quickly. However, she didn’t notice how Uma looked at her so strangely but didn’t utter a single word.

“So? Where do you want to go now?” Evie asked, and Mal looked around at all of the surrounding games and activities before pointing at one called Space Shooter.

“Let’s go to that one. I’ve played a few games with Carlos on his Xbox, and I’m pretty good at shooting stuff,” Mal told her, and Evie nodded effortlessly as she smiled, starting over to the stand with a large crowd around it. Uma followed the both of them, her gaze settled upon the both of them thoughtfully.

They reached the crowd finally, and Evie furrowed her brow, trying to figure out why there was such a large group of people surrounding the area. Evie gently shouldered her way through the people in an attempt to see who was at the front of the crowd. Uma slid in behind the both of them, staying close by Mal to ensure that she wasn’t ran over by any larger adults.

Evie finally managed to get at the front of the crowd and her eyes went wide as she stared at the sight before her.

There was Jay and Audrey taking up the two shooters available and blasting every target in sight with violent and cruel technique.

“I’m winning!” Jay announced in a sing-song tone, and Audrey just narrowed her eyes as she shot at the targets, not missing a single one.

“No, you’re not!” Audrey cried, and Jay just smirked as he shot down yet another target.

“And to think this all started because you got so offended over nothing!” Jay told her, and Audrey’s eyes lit up in a flame as she blasted everything she could see.

“Hello?! You said I was a girl and couldn’t shoot as well as you!”

“No, I didn’t, I said that you were a girl, didn’t play _video games_ like I do, so you couldn’t shoot as well as me!” Jay corrected and Audrey started shooting with even more vigor in the midst of her anger.

“Look, you might think you’re a big, tough, hot VK, but I’m bringing proper yet sexy AKs back!” Audrey screeched, and Jay almost stopped shooting in the midst of his shock at Audrey and her competitiveness.

“Excuse me, but I think you guys had your turn… There’s a few other people that want to,” the poor man that was running the booth started to say, his hair shrouding his face as he very fearfully approached the both of them, but Audrey just turned her gun and blasted him in the head with a plastic ball.

“Watch it, you hippie!” Audrey yelled, and she shot down another target as the man dove behind the counter to nurse the red place in the center of his forehead.

Evie shook herself from her scared watching of this, and she squeezed Mal’s hand a little tighter as she pushed her way out of the crowd, Uma leading them carefully.

“We’ll go back to that one later,” Evie told Mal carefully. However, as they were trying to get out of the crowd, a man stepped to the side and almost stepped on Mal.

“Hey! There’s little people down here!” Mal cried, and the man looked around confusedly, trying to figure out what had just happened. Evie shot him a mean look before scooping up Mal in her arms and carrying her out of the crowd.

Yet again, Uma noticed, but she didn’t say anything.

They finally made it out of the thickness of people, and Evie sighed as she held onto Mal.

“Okay, so where would you like to go instead of here?” Evie asked, and Mal shrugged before looking around.

“Well, we’re trying to kill time, right?” Mal asked, and Uma nodded.

“Huh… I don’t know… What about the trampolines over there?”

Evie’s mouth nearly dropped as she realized the exact trampolines Mal was addressing. Those trampolines that go really high. Those trampolines that require a strap to make sure someone doesn’t fly out.

_Those_ trampolines.

Uma followed Mal’s pointed finger, and she raised an eyebrow.

“That looks safe.”


	5. One Stuck Genevieve

“Well, M, why don’t we do that later?” Evie suggested, gazing in horror as some girl did a flip in mid-air. Evie turned away from the trampolines, but Mal leaned over, looking at them around Evie as Evie held onto her.

“Why? I want to do it now,” Mal told her simply, and Evie shook her head as she looked all around, trying desperately to find something else that they could do that wasn’t quite so dangerous-looking for children of small proportions.

“And put me down,” Mal demanded. Evie quickly spotted a swing-set nearby and she sighed in relief as she carried Mal quickly over to the kiddy swings. Uma followed the both of them, and as Evie started to pick out a swing for Mal to go in, Uma sat down on the edge of the sandpile that was in front of the swings.

“Look at these, Mal! Why don’t you swing instead?” Evie offered eagerly, offering up to Mal an alternative to the trampolines and hopefully a distractor from them as well.

“Okay. I’ll swing for a little, but I’m swinging on the adult ones,” Mal pointed out, and Evie just shook her head before putting Mal inside a purple child one that looked like a Volkswagen Beetle.

“What the- couldn’t you have picked a cooler one?!” Mal asked, and Evie’s face lit up in a big grin as she buckled Mal in.

“Hey, it looks like your Beetle that Ben got you,” Uma pointed out, and Evie nodded excitedly as she looked back at the pirate.

“That’s what I was going to say,” Evie told Uma.

“Yeah, and he got it because he obviously doesn’t know me at all,” Mal pointed out, slowly pronouncing the larger words as she tried to avoid stumbling over them in that manner that she seemed to since her transformation.

Evie finally stepped back from Mal, her whole face lit up in a giant grin as she pushed the car, sending Mal on her swinging path. Mal just stared at Evie, completely unimpressed as she watched Evie grow nearer and farther from her with that same giant, goofy grin on her face.

“Whee!” Evie called excitedly as she pushed Mal. Mal just looked at Uma, and the pirate shrugged, moving her finger in a circle at the side of her head to indicate exactly how she thought Evie was.

Almost as if Evie was a mind reader, she quickly turned her head to stare at Uma. Uma swiftly put her hand down in her lap and tried to act like she wasn’t doing anything behind Evie’s back.

“No, ma’am, I am not crazy,” Evie replied, and Uma offered her a huge smile.

“Did we say you were crazy? Naw, nobody said you were crazy,” Uma told her, and Evie just huffed before turning back to face Mal with her usual cheerfulness.

“Might have been thinking it, though,” Uma mumbled, and Evie chose to ignore her instead of give Uma the satisfaction of Evie’s aggravation.

“Now, isn’t this fun, Mal?” Evie questioned, only offering smiles and excitement. However, Mal was only offering frowns and a complete lack of enthusiasm.

“The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round,” Uma started to sing after a moment, and Mal’s eyes narrowed as she glared at Uma, knowing that song particularly well.

Ever since Ben had gotten the Volkswagen Beetle for Mal, Uma and anyone else that rode in it with her would start up the “Wheels on the Bus” song. No one knew why it even started, but it was what they would sing if Mal ever made the mistake of driving it with other people in the car.

“I hate that song!” Mal proclaimed loudly and childishly, and Uma stopped singing it quickly, not wanting to start a screaming fest that she could sense was on the way.

For a few more moments, Evie pushed Mal along much too overenthusiastically. Mal just glared at both of the larger girls, narrowing her eyes in increased frustration.

“Can we go do something that’s actually interesting?” Mal finally demanded, and Evie raised her eyebrows before bringing Mal to a stop carefully.

“Sure. But only if you’re sure you’re ready to leave this fun-”

“Yes. Let’s go to the trampoline,” Mal told her, pronouncing the last word very carefully. Evie worriedly turned back to look in the directions of the trampoline.

Evie had the makings of a horror film in her mind when she even looked at those things. There was only a strap to keep one inside of it and imagine if someone were to actually get out of that strap when jumping high. Evie could just see Mal flying through the air helplessly.

Evie stared for a second more before shaking her head firmly.

“What if we do something else right now? Let’s go see that later,” Evie redirected, and Mal just raised an eyebrow at her before looking around the area.

“You’re treating me like a kid, E, treating me like a kid,” Mal informed the bluenette with a shake of her head and a disapproving click of her tongue before her eyes suddenly widened in her excitement.

“Oh, that is kind of awesome… I want to do that!” Mal told Evie, and Evie followed Mal’s gaze, honestly dreading what Mal had spied next. To her immense relief, she spotted a ton of inflatable slides. Evie sighed deeply as she unbuckled Mal in her swing and picked her up in her arms.

“Well, we can definitely do that!” Evie agreed easily.

“And don’t you dare even think about carrying me all the way over there,” Mal demanded. Evie paused immediately, flashing Mal a guilty grin.

“Sorry…” Evie put Mal down on the grass, but she did insist on holding her hand tightly in her own. Evie then started off in the direction of the big blow-ups.

Uma huffed as she raised an eyebrow at the both of them. However, with a groan, she stood up and started after them.

“So, when am I going to pick out what we do?” Uma questioned with a groan, and Evie turned her head to look back at Uma as she walked along.

“Well, if you have any suggestions, we’re more than open to them,” Evie told her, and Uma just looked at her silently for a moment, a blank look on her face.

“Come on, what did you want to do?” Evie asked patiently, slowing so she could better listen to Uma, and she offered the pirate a sweet smile. Uma finally just shook her head.

“Honestly, I had nothing in mind whatsoever,” Uma almost mumbled, somewhat caught off guard at the fact that Evie had so innocently and sweetly put a stop to her aggravating and had handled it so well.

“Okay. Feel free to let me know if you have any,” Evie told her, and Uma just rolled her eyes, irritated that her attempts to mess up the other girl were completely thwarted by Evie’s kind and sweet nature.

“Honestly, I sometimes think you do that on purpose,” Uma pointed out.

“What?” Evie asked innocently and Uma narrowed her eyes at Evie, unimpressed with Evie’s ways.

“Being so sugar-sweet when I’m trying to aggravate,” Uma told her, unashamedly admitting what she was aiming to do. Evie just offered a grin to Uma, and Uma raised an eyebrow skeptically at the other girl, having a feeling that Evie was just a little too honeyed to be genuine.

“Like that. Just like that,” Uma pointed, and Evie just shrugged nonchalantly.

“Must be pure coincidence,” Evie replied simply, and Uma just shook her head doubtfully.

“Yeah, coincidence, my eye,” Uma spoke, but before Evie could even remotely think of a response to that one, they had arrived at the inflatables. Mal started to jump up and down in her excitement, and Evie’s face bloomed into a grin as she lovingly gazed at the little girl there on the ground next to her.

“I. Don’t. Even. Know. Why. I’m. Doing. This!” Mal exclaimed between jumps, and Evie just chuckled under her breath good-naturedly. “And. It’s. Super. Embarrassing!”

“It’s okay, Mal. You’re little and excited, and it’s cute,” Evie told her, and Mal stopped jumping immediately in favor of glaring at Evie.

“I am not cute. I am tough,” Mal corrected Evie stubbornly, and Evie grinned widely at her, not able to resist leaning down and kissing Mal’s cheeks that were so adorably chubby right now. Mal just grunted in irritation, trying to dodge Evie, but Evie was too fast for her.

“Of course, you are, you sweet thing,” Evie doted on her, and Mal frustratedly eyed Evie. The bluenette just offered her a huge grin as a simple response. Mal huffed before deciding that she’d pick out what she wanted to get on.

“Let’s get on that one!” Mal pointed to the largest, most enormous one out there that was at least six or seven Evie’s tall. Evie just gaped as she tried to figure out why in the world that Mal insisted on picking out the largest, most dangerous activities at the entire festival.

Evie shook her head quickly, deciding that she would once again redirect Mal from her train of thought. Evie quickly spotted an inflatable slide that didn’t look nearly as huge as the other one. This one only reached around Evie’s neck-level.

“Mal, look at that one!” Evie proclaimed with enthusiasm, and Mal furrowed her brow as she viewed the one that Evie had chosen for her.

“Evie, what’s that for? Three to four-year-old little brats?” Mal questioned, and Uma raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a little ironic coming from a three to four-year-old brat,” Uma quipped, and Mal just sarcastically laughed at Uma.

“Ha, ha, ha, you’re a real comedian,” Mal spoke the last word slowly and with more pronunciation than it required, and Uma snorted.

Evie just ignored them both and brought Mal over so that she was in line with the other little kids. Evie reached down, using one arm to steady Mal and employing the other as she pulled off Mal’s shoes. Mal’s eyes narrowed as she realized precisely what Evie had planned for her to do.

“C’mon, Evie,” Mal complained, and Evie paid no attention to her objections as she helped Mal up the climbing part of the inflatable.

Mal sat at the top stubbornly, and Evie waited for a moment, Mal’s hand still in hers tightly. The small faerie simply glared, and Evie pulled on her arm slightly so that Mal was sliding down quickly.

“Woo!!!” Evie cried as Mal went down the slide. Mal sat at the bottom for a moment, stewing quietly, and Uma honestly feared an outburst was about to occur. If Evie sensed it, she didn’t pay any attention as she picked Mal up and put her on the grass.

“Wasn’t that fun? We can do it a few more times if you want to,” Evie sweetly offered, and Mal breathed out deeply.

“I played your game. Can I be a big girl and get on the big girl slide?” Mal was on the verge of a tantrum, and Evie sighed deeply, not liking the idea of an enormous blow-up in the least.

“I don’t know,” Evie started, and it was then that Uma chose to step in, knowing it was likely best in consideration of preventing a meltdown.

“C’mon, Blue, she ain’t that bad off. She’s got an adult mind. Let her go have some fun,” Uma told Evie, defending Mal’s point of view. Evie furrowed her brow, looking between the both of them. Uma was looking at her with that unimpressed, expectant sort of expression that always seemed to have the effect of pressuring one to do what she wanted them to. Evie pursed her lips before turning her gaze to Mal.

Oh, Mal… Mal was now gazing up at her with the most adorable big eyes of innocence that Evie knew for a fact were completely fabricated. Despite that, she found she honestly couldn’t resist them. They were just too cute for her to resist.

Evie finally just sighed a bit and shook her head.

“Okay,” Evie consented, and Mal hopped up and down in the midst of her excitement surrounding her victory.

“Cool! Let’s go!” Mal cried, pulling Evie’s arm as she took off for the big one. Evie followed along somewhat begrudgingly, and Evie’s eyes widened as she realized that there was a tunnel to enter as well as several large floppy poles inside of the space leading to the climbing area for the slide. Evie could see a million hazards at this point, and she was almost ready to turn and insist that Mal not go, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it because of the positively thrilled expression on Mal’s face.

Mal started into the tunnel, but Evie quickly caught her by the waist, bringing her back against the larger girl.

“M, are you sure you can climb this by yourself? It’s a little high,” Evie told her worriedly, and Mal squirmed, trying desperately to get out of Evie’s grasp.

“Let me go, E, I’m fine! I’m not a baby!” Mal replied, and Evie hesitantly released her. Evie then stepped back with Uma, watching concernedly as Mal ran through the obstacle course preceding the climb up the slide.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Evie finally questioned, and Uma just raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, of course! She’ll be fine.”

“Okay… I just have a bad feeling about this,” Evie expressed as she watched Mal make her way through the tall squishy poles alongside several other kids.

“Look, there’s no reason to worry. Honest to goodness, you’re acting like you’re sending her off in her first sword fight. But even then, my mother wasn’t worried about it when I got sent off into one,” Uma told Evie nonchalantly, and Evie looked at her curiously, her attentions removed from Mal as Uma spoke.

“Really? What did your mom do?” Evie asked, suddenly very interested in Uma’s words as she soaked in what the pirate had said.

“Aw, she just said be back before it gets to be dish-washing time. And make sure you don’t get your right hand chopped off,” Uma quoted, moving her right hand around for additional emphasis.

“Why your right hand?” Evie questioned, furrowing her brow slightly.

“Can’t wash dishes without your scrubbing hand,” Uma explained, and Evie nodded understandingly.

“Oh, yeah… That makes sense,” Evie replied, her lips pursed.

However, while Evie and Uma were currently engaged in calm conversation, Mal was running headfirst through the obstacle course.

Mal excitedly hopped around the squishy poles, punching them as she went by, and she hurried toward the climbing area. Mal ran over to the base of it, and she positioned her hands and feet on several ledges as she started to ascend.

After only a few moments, she realized that this climb was a lot longer than she thought it was, and she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with this whole thing. But Mal pushed forward.

She finally reached about midway, and she realized that she still had a ways to go, or at least what seemed to be a ways considering her size. Mal huffed, looking down as several other kids passed by her.

It was then that the little girl realized that there was a ways down as well. Mal wasn’t normally afraid of heights, but when considering how far it was down and how far she had to go, some irrational part of her brain suggested that she could be stuck halfway up forever.

What if she’d never get to run around again? What if she couldn’t get turned back into an adult because she was stuck here? What if she never got to kiss Ben again? What if she could never feel Evie’s hand in hers?

So, running with those panicky thoughts, she decided that the only logical plan of action was to scream and yell for Evie, her one and only big sister and best friend, to come and heroically rescue her in that way that only Evie could pull off with her signature reassurance and sweetness.

“EVIE, HELP ME!!!”

Evie was deep in conversation with Uma when Mal suddenly started screaming at the top of her lungs. Evie’s eyes went wide as she spotted Mal on the climbing part of the inflatable.

“Mal?!” Evie called in response, and Uma just raised an eyebrow at the child hanging from the middle of the wall, not really sure whether she was feeling too sympathetic toward the little girl because it wasn’t really that high up. But she guessed that it was high up through the eyes of a girl that was about two feet tall.

“HELP!!!” Mal screeched, and Evie immediately launched into action, throwing off her shoes and rushing for the tunnels on the inflatable.

“I’m coming, Mal!” she yelled, and she stopped just before the tunnels, trying to figure out if she could even fit in there. She considered it for a moment before shaking her head, deciding she’d do it anyway. Evie dove in and managed to get her head and arms out of the tunnel.

However, it was then that she realized that the rest of her body wasn’t going to come out with the top half. Evie grabbed the edges of the tunnel with her hands, straining and pulling as she fought against the rubber that was holding her in place.

“Hang on a second, Mal! I’m coming!” Evie raised her voice, still yanking against her stuck behind.

Uma just watched this for a few moments more, Evie’s back end and her legs sticking out of the tunnel and facing her as Mal yelled her tiny head off. Uma finally just groaned and shook her head as she kicked off her own shoes.

“If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself,” Uma muttered irritably before going along the side of the inflatable and hauling herself over it quickly. Uma lost her balance once she was in the blow-up and she nearly fell on Evie’s head along with a few other kids inside of it that had started to stare at Evie.

“Woah! This thing is not stable!” Uma cried, and Evie just tried to push Uma in Mal’s direction.

“Go! Go help her!” Evie instructed frantically, and Uma got up, dodging floppy poles as she ran through the obstacle course toward Mal. Effortlessly, she climbed up the wall until she was even with Mal.

“Mal, hey, look, I’m here,” Uma told her, hoping to make the kid stop her screaming, but Mal only calmed down a little.

“Where’s Evie?!” Mal demanded, and Uma rolled her eyes as she looked at the girl stuck in the tunnel below them.

“Well, she’s in a bit of a sticky situation right now,” Uma explained as she climbed up the wall a bit. She then grabbed Mal’s arm and pulled up so that she was on top of the slide. Uma then settled there, her feet gripping onto the holds as securely as she could manage as she rested her elbows on the top of the slide.

“She’s over that way,” Uma turned and pointed at Evie lodged in the tunnel. Mal followed her finger and spotted the bluenette trying desperately to get out of the tunnel. Mal giggled at the sight of her and Uma chuckled as well, the two shaking their heads at the sight of Evie.

Uma then sobered a bit, looking back at Mal.

“Alright, you slide and come back when you’re through. I’m going to need all the help I can get to pull her behind out of there,” Uma told faerie with a grin before climbing down and allowing herself to drop down when she was near the bottom. Then, stepping over several kids, she made her way back to Evie.

When she was finally back and standing in front of Evie, she just shook her head at the girl, clicking her tongue. Evie just looked at her helplessly.

“Welp, I’m thinking something. And you ain’t gonna like it,” Uma pointed out with an evil smirk as she gazed down at the bluenette that was so helplessly stuck there in the kids’ tunnel. Evie just sighed deeply, dropping her head so that her forehead rested on the blow-up.

“Just tell me what it is. I’d rather hear it from you than from someone else that’s telling me what you said to them about it,” Evie explained, and Uma just grinned even wider.

“I don’t know about you, but I think you ought to ease off them Oreos some,” Uma commented with a laugh, and Evie raised her head back up, her eyes narrowed.

“I have the perfect booty!” Evie proclaimed, and Uma just snorted at her overly stiff and proper terminology that Evie was so infamous for.

“I do!” Evie adamantly insisted. Uma shook her head, getting ahold of herself, before leaning toward the bluenette a bit.

“Well, last time I checked, them hips don’t lie when they’re saying that they’re stuck good,” Uma pointed out before straightening and cackling at Evie’s expense. Evie just huffed in slight exasperation as she looked to the side, subtly testing to see whether her rear end was any less lodged in the tunnel. Uma just laughed harder when she realized what Evie was doing.

Finally, Uma calmed down, sniffing hard before leaning down.

“Alright, how’re we going to get you out of there?” Uma asked, but before Evie could answer, they heard a frighteningly familiar voice.

“What the- Uma?!” Carlos cried, and Evie froze as her eyes widened in recognition. Uma raised back up to her full height quickly, knowing it was too late and that she had been spotted. Carlos was standing there, Jane holding his hand, as they gaped at the pirate.

Uma and Evie happened to meet eyes, and Evie whispered just barely, her eyes as large as saucers as she tried to find some way to hide herself.

“Be cool,” Evie murmured, and Uma just barely caught it. So, she just crossed her arms over her chest, trying to look as infallibly relaxed as possible.

“Yo, whassup, Whitey Tighty?” Uma questioned, and Evie stopped immediately, staring at Uma before facepalming.

“What are you doing here at the festival? And in the kids’ area? And with some girl’s legs hanging out that looks suspiciously like Evie’s?” Carlos confusedly questioned, and Uma subtly looked back down at the girl who had returned to glancing around quickly in an attempt to try to find some way to hide her face.

At this point, Carlos and Jane were only able to see the backside of her body sticking out. However, if they came over to the side of the inflatable, they’d see Evie’s face and know she was really there.

Not to mention that Mal was going down the slide and was no doubt about to come over and accidentally be discovered by the two.

So, Uma just moved her hands to her hips, striking yet another of those super confident poses in an attempt to distract from the fact that there were legs sticking out of the kids’ tunnel.

“Well, you know Harry and Gil. They insisted on getting into the kids’ blow-ups and I got in because naturally,” Uma allowed an eyeroll to make it all more genuine, “Gil got stuck in the tunnel.

“So, Harry, being the inconsiderate soul he is, left Gil here to be stuck, so me and this super nice lady that’s now stuck in the same place,” Uma explained with a large grin, sparing a glance at Evie as she leaned forward on the inflatable material above Evie and the tunnel, “helped Gil get out.

“And the funniest thing happened,” Uma laughed a bit, shaking her head. “This poor, super nice lady got stuck when she was trying to help him out.”

Carlos and Jane just stared at Uma quietly for a moment, trying to figure out why she seemed so overly nice and sweet and why that those legs looked so much like Evie’s.

“Why does she look like Evie?” Carlos finally questioned, and Uma almost lost her grin, but valiantly kept it there on her face as she thought fast.

“Well, because she’s a super big fan of Evie’s clothing line,” Uma told him as if it were the most obvious fact in the world. Evie gave Uma an approving thumbs-up as she tried to keep calm. Carlos nodded slowly, furrowing his brow in thought as he considered what she had said.

Uma happened to look to the side, some unconscious part of her brain drawing her gaze there, and she saw that Mal was quickly approaching the side of the inflatable. Uma turned back to Carlos and Jane quickly.

“So, Carlos, what brings you two out here?” Uma asked loudly. Uma watched out of her peripheral vision as Mal quickly froze in her steps and turned to run back to the other side of the slide. Uma wiped the metaphorical sweat from her brow as she allowed a bit more easygoing smile onto her face as she listened to Carlos.

“Well, we were just on our date,” Carlos told her, confused a bit at her sudden change in the volume of her voice. Jane was looking at her quite strangely indeed, and Uma just grinned at the both of them.

“How sweet!” Uma commented, trying to think of some way to subtly make them go away without them realizing that she was getting them to go away.

“Where’s Harry and Gil?” Jane asked, and Uma almost sighed in relief as she realized it was a perfect opportunity to send them off. However, what was not so perfect was the fact that she had no idea where Gil and Harry could have fake gone off to. Uma scanned her brain swiftly in an attempt to think of somewhere that they’d be.

Uma happened to look down at Evie in the midst of this struggle and Evie started to mouth some words. Uma settled her gaze on her silently for a moment, and Evie distinctly mouthed the word corn. Uma nodded just barely, and Evie then brought her hands up in front of her and started to pant. Uma looked back at Carlos quickly, knowing exactly what Evie was conveying to her.

“They’re at the corn dog stand,” Uma replied finally, and Carlos raised an eyebrow as he shared a glance with Jane. Jane pursed her lips somewhat puzzledly. Evie’s face split into an enormous grin as she offered two thumbs-up to Uma.

“That’s weird. We didn’t see a corn dog stand,” Jane commented, and Carlos nodded in agreement.

“Well, it’s over that way,” Uma pointed over to a far corner of the park. “Way over that way.”

“Huh… I like corn dogs,” Carlos spoke, and Uma suddenly realized precisely why Evie was so adamant that Uma use that explanation.

“That is perfect, because you are a corn dog guy. Yep, old Carlos the corn dog,” Uma told him with a big grin as she very awkwardly handled the situation. Carlos just nodded, a little weirded out by Uma, but ultimately deciding that he was hungrier for corn dogs than he was willing to stop and consider Uma’s oddness. Carlos looked at Jane pleadingly and she just laughed, hugging his arm tighter as she nodded. Carlos’s face immediately lit up in a giant grin, and Jane looked at Uma sweetly.

“See you, Uma,” Jane bade her farewell, and then was almost dragged off by Carlos as he hurried off in search of the corn dog stand that was very sadly nonexistent.

Uma waved to them happily, waiting until they were out of sight before turning and getting out of the inflatable as she left the girl there stuck in the tunnel holding up tons of kid traffic. Evie’s eyes went wide as Uma climbed over the side of the blow-up.

“Where are you going?!” Evie demanded, and Uma just rolled her yes.

“I’m getting Mal and we’re dragging your fat butt out of here,” the pirate informed her shortly before walking off toward the other side of the slide. Uma found Mal sitting there at the bottom of the slide where the kids got off of the inflatable, the little girl just sitting there fiddling with her fingers idly.

“Alright, we’re good to go,” Uma said, and Mal looked up at her with relief as she got off of the inflatable. Uma smiled at her slightly, shaking her head as they started toward the other end of the blow-up.

“That was a close one,” Mal expressed, and Uma nodded wholeheartedly.

“You’re telling me. I had to think of some reason that the butt and legs sticking out of the tunnel weren’t Evie’s and why I was here in the first place. You got off really easy just having to run off and hide,” Uma pointed out, and Mal just rolled her eyes sassily.

They then came back to Evie, and realized that several parents were starting to complain, and Evie was currently knee-deep in trying to explain herself and the reasons why she was even in the predicament she was in.

“Ma’am, you should really think about the kids. This whole thing is for children!”

“I know! I was trying to save my kid when I got into this mess! She was stuck halfway to the top of the inflatable and I crawled through the tunnel to try to get to her,” Evie told the haughty woman standing there and staring at her with such cold disapproval over the side of the slide.

“Well, why didn’t you climb over the side here? That would have been much smarter, and you wouldn’t be blocking all these poor children from getting on.” Uma noticed from her peripheral vision that Mal’s eyes were starting to glow green, and Uma honestly couldn’t blame her. This woman was being seriously unfair to Evie.

So, Uma, her eyes hardened, walked over. Mal’s eyes were still blazing, but she managed to regain control of them for a moment so as to not clue anyone to her true identity. After all, there was only one person in the kingdom that had glowing green eyes.

“Hey,” Uma interjected, and both Evie and the woman stared at her.

“Can you blame this woman for trying to save her child?” Uma demanded. The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth, starting to say something again.

“No, it wasn’t smart of her to go through the tunnel, but honestly, when your mind’s in that big of a panic when your child’s stuck in some ridiculous overgrown slide, you don’t really have time to think about that,” Uma pointed out. The woman quickly stopped arguing with Uma, looking a bit ashamed of herself, and Uma nodded resolutely.

“C’mon, now. Let’s yank her out,” Uma pointedly told the little girl as she grabbed one of Evie’s legs in her hands firmly. Mal held onto the other one tightly, and they both started to pull as hard as they could.

After a few moments, with a mighty tug on Uma’s part, Evie came out quickly. She then turned over so that she was sitting down and leaning against the blow-up. Mal wasted no time in launching forward and hugging Evie tightly. Evie’s face lit up in a relieved smile as she returned Mal’s embrace sweetly.

Uma smiled at the both of them before eyeing the woman from earlier with a hardened glare. The woman cleared her throat and straightened a bit.

“I apologize, ma’am, for making such a big fuss. I simply didn’t understand the situation.”

“Dang straight,” Uma replied, and offered a hand to Evie to help her up to her feet. Evie gave Mal one more squeeze before letting her go and taking Uma’s hand firmly. She was up on her feet and she nodded to the woman calmly, letting her know that there were no hard feelings before taking Mal’s tiny hand in her own and heading off with Uma.

They were quiet for a few moments as they meandered toward the center of the fair, until Mal interrupted the quiet.

“Hey, Evie, I’m thinking something, and I don’t think you’re gonna like it.”

“What?”

“Well… You should really lay off those Oreos.”

Uma just burst out laughing after that.


	6. Finally a Trampoline

“Evie, can we do the trampolines now?”

“Mal! Look, a Whack-A-Mole!” Evie announced, apparently realizing that her excuse of seeing the trampoline later was getting overused, and she dragged Mal toward a particular stand in the midst of the bustling hubbub of the festival. Uma followed them over, and Mal just groaned as Evie picked Mal up and held her so that she could see the tabletop of the whack-a-mole game.

It had been a little while since Evie’s incident with the tunnel, and since then, the three had some water and relaxed at the picnic tables. That was, before Mal started to impatiently whine about wanting to look at more activities. Uma could’ve sworn that Evie gave in to Mal’s every whim.

But she hadn’t given in to the trampoline yet, and Uma honestly wished she would.

“Evie!” Mal whined, and Evie just offered the man nearby some money so he would turn on the game. He gave the bluenette a large rubber mallet before activating the tabletop.

“C’mon, M, just try it,” Evie told her, and Mal narrowed her eyes irritably as Evie offered the hammer to her. Mal took it, but she didn’t stop staring at Evie.

“Y’know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d really think that she was about to play Whack-A-Mole on your head,” Uma told Evie, watching the two of them with some worry. Evie just smiled widely as she turned Mal to face the tabletop.

“Okay, Mal, go for it. Smack those rats,” Evie encouraged, and Mal just gave an overexaggerated eyeroll before starting to try to hit the moles as they popped up. Mal held the hammer in her hands as tightly as she could manage, but she was still a bit wobbly.

She barely managed to hit the first one that apparated before the mole popped up in a different place. Mal reached over, her toddler arms not doing well with the entire idea of coordination, and she aimed for the next one. It quickly dipped down beneath the surface, and Mal successfully missed. Mal tried several more times before just dropping the mallet on the tabletop and looking as if she might cry over the ordeal.

“It’s too hard!” Mal howled, sounding near tears at this point, and Evie hugged her closer, kissing the side of the little girl’s head comfortingly.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’ll be fine,” Evie assured her sweetly, nuzzling Mal’s hair before sitting her down on the grass nearby. Evie then rolled up her thin sleeves before taking the mallet in her hand firmly.

“Here, I’ll take over for you, Mal. I’ll win you something good, I promise,” Evie assured her, and Evie offered the man more money so that she could go another turn. He cranked it back up and Evie bit her bottom lip slightly as she eyed the tabletop, just waiting for the first mole to appear. Sure enough, one appeared before long, and she reached over and swiftly smacked it.

Several more followed that one in sporadic succession and Evie overdramatically lunged for each one, hitting it with great enthusiasm.

“Boom! Whoa! Bam,” Evie exclaimed, laughing a bit as she hit the rodents as they appeared.

Evie hopped toward one that popped up on the left and then she dove for one on the top right. She grinned victoriously as she hurried about. After a moment, Evie paused, waiting on more to spawn.

“Believe it or not, this is a real stress reliever,” Evie giggled as she spared a glance back at Uma and Mal. The other two girls just looked at one another before returning their gazes to Evie as she started to speed up in her smacking.

“Take. That. You. Dirty. Little. _Scalopus_. _Aquaticus_ ,” Evie called out between hits. Mal just facepalmed at Evie’s use of the scientific name for a mole. On the other hand, Uma offered the man at the stand a grin as he stared at Evie as if she had lost her mind in an attempt to alleviate a bit of his obvious opinions and preconceptions about the other girl.

“She’s a scientist at heart,” Uma made the excuse that Mal had so often utilized. He just looked at them all weirdly before withdrawing his phone and ultimately deciding that he wasn’t getting paid enough to worry about these sorts of issues.

Uma turned to Evie and watched as Evie increased in speed and still maintained her accuracy as she smacked the moles. Uma raised an eyebrow, impressed at the other girl’s skill and suddenly finding that she herself wanted to try the game as well.

Uma pushed forward a bit so that she was next to Evie, and Evie as well as the moles continued to only increase in speed before Evie finally started missing more than she was hitting. Evie finally was through, and she was about to order up a second turn before Uma snatched the hammer from her.

“I’m doing it now,” Uma told her, and Evie nodded, still very much engrossed with the game herself as she paid the man for Uma’s turn. After only a moment, Evie and Uma were deeply involved in the game mostly to win prizes for Mal but also because they were enjoying the thrill of the entire activity.

“Aw, yeah! I am so totally kicking your butt and breaking your record,” Uma told Evie, and Evie furrowed her brow, almost ready to snatch the hammer from Uma and do it herself.

“Oh, you just wait until next turn. I’m going to win way more prizes than you,” Evie informed her, and Uma just scoffed as she sped up in her whacking.

“I’d like to see you try, Genevieve,” Uma replied as she flew across the tabletop. Evie leaned in a bit in the midst of her eagerness for her turn, her nose just as deep in the game as Uma despite the fact that she wasn’t actually playing it at this point.

However, while they were playing the game all in the name of getting Mal prizes, Mal was just watching the two, completely bored and uninterested in the activity that she hadn’t even gotten to participate in. Besides, she wasn’t really even interested in that stupid baby game anyway.

Mal turned away from Uma and Evie as she looked around the festival. It wasn’t long before she spotted the trampolines and people jumping high up from them in the distance. Mal looked at Uma and Evie, Uma now egging Evie on as she practically dove over to hit a mole. Mal just shook her head, deciding that she was an adult in every way but her body and that she had the right to go wherever she wanted to go.

And that was when she started off through the crowd, leaving Evie and Uma there as they played the game.

Mal walked through the crowd, mentally noting how much taller that everyone around her was. Being short was nothing new to Mal, but truly feeling as if she were among giants was something almost bewildering and unnerving to her.

Mal furrowed her brow as she moved by a man and a woman as they unknowingly passed her by. She found that for some reason, she was experiencing an odd fear of people that she didn’t know, and it kind of freaked the little girl out.

However, if Mal was scared of strangers, it didn’t compare in the least to her next incident. She almost screamed when she spotted a large dog coming by her on a leash, and Mal toddled away on her much too short legs as she hurried as quickly as she could manage.

Mal then started to look for the trampolines that she was so eager to try out, but she found that she couldn’t see them anywhere. Mal suddenly found herself very afraid, and she clutched her hands to her chest, an enormous sense of terror overcoming her as she came to the realization that she couldn’t find Evie, Uma, or anything familiar except the same old view of herds of people.

Mal’s eyes then started to well up in tears as she fearfully gazed at everything around.

But before she could get too involved in these thoughts, someone suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder. Mal spun around to face the intruder and she was met with the usually exceedingly mirthful, sweet eyes of Carlos.

“Hey, kiddo. You lost?” Carlos asked sweetly, not seeming to recognize Mal in the least. Mal immediately felt a wash of relief come over her although she wasn’t certain if it was because it was Carlos instead of a stranger or if it was because he didn’t know who she was and that she had dodged that bullet.

“C’mon, you can tell me. I can help you,” Carlos told her kindly in that way that was so characteristic of him.

Mal just nodded to him noncommittally, not really sure what to say back to him.

“Okay, then. Do you know what your mom or dad looks like?” Carlos questioned patiently, and Mal quickly realized that he couldn’t tell him the truth. It was either that her mother had horns, or she had a surrogate mother at the moment with blue hair.

“My mom’s really nice, and she’s got long hair,” Mal told Carlos vaguely, and he nodded in what was obviously mock understanding so he wouldn’t offend her or further upset her. From the look on his face it was apparent that he was trying to decipher which one could be her mother in the midst of a crowd of many women with long hair.

“What color is her long hair?” Mal immediately realized that this was going to be very difficult to trick him since he kept asking so many questions. All she could do was provide him with false information and hope that Evie or Uma found her before he called the authorities to help.

“She’s got black hair,” Mal told him, figuring that was close enough to Evie’s true color when she didn’t lighten it. Carlos seemed to buy it, though, so Mal wasn’t complaining. Carlos sighed slightly, and Mal could almost hear his thoughts that it was too vague information. Nevertheless, Mal was sticking with her appearance as a cute and clueless little kid.

Carlos offered his hand to her, and Mal groaned automatically before taking it.

“Huh… Don’t like hand-holding, do you?”

“Ev- My mommy,” Mal corrected, adding a more kiddy sort of name for her fake mother, “does it all the time and drives me crazy.”

“Well, it probably helps her know where you are and keep you safe. I bet she’s worried sick about you right now,” Carlos told the little girl with a laugh in his voice, and Mal found that they were growing near the general area that Evie and Uma were in. She could see the sign for the Whack-A-Mole stand.

She just hoped Evie and Uma would realize that she was there and save her somehow.

And realize they would.

Evie had just finished the last round of Whack-A-Mole and was about to go for another when Uma grabbed her arm, stopping her from continuing.

“Hey, look, I think we won all the prizes,” Uma told Evie, and Evie raised her eyebrows in surprise but her face quickly lit up in an enormous grin as she took a giant plush from the hulking pile nearby the two girls.

“Well, Mal, I did it! I won you everything and anything you could’ve possibly,” Evie turned to face the exact spot that she had left the little girl not too long ago, and her eyes went wide as she gaped.

“Where is she?!” Evie demanded, allowing the plush to drop from her grasp as intense fear gripped her very being. Uma furrowed her brow, her lips curling into a grim frown as she started to get very worried indeed.

“I don’t know.”

“Weren’t you watching her?” Evie asked, and Uma placed her hands on her hips with an accusatory expression.

“You’re her caretaker!” Uma announced.

“But I was busy and your job as her aunt and my sister for a day is to take care of her when I can’t!” Evie cried, and Uma’s eyes widened slightly as she stared at Evie disbelievingly.

“I wasn’t informed of this position! I’m just one of her sisters to hear you tell it. Now I’m an aunt?” Uma asked and Evie quickly realized that she had just implied that she was Mal’s mother essentially.

“You _are_ her sister!” Evie clarified, and Uma raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t be her aunt and her sister. How exactly does that work?” Uma pushed, and Evie just shook her head, looking around frantically.

“This arguing isn’t getting us anywhere. We’ve got to find her!” Evie told the pirate, and Uma looked around before suddenly spotting something that was definitely not advantageous to them and their entire campaign of secrecy.

“Well… I found her,” Uma told Evie, and Evie spun quickly to follow Uma’s gaze. Evie’s jaw went slack as she realized that they were very possibly exposed just exactly how Mal didn’t want them to be.

“Oh, no,” Evie groaned, and Uma watched the situation for a moment as Carlos looked around and pointed at several women, followed by Mal shaking her head in obvious negation. Uma looked at Evie, placing her hand on the other girl’s arm to keep her grounded.

“I think he doesn’t know yet. I think Mal’s tricked him into helping her look for her mother,” Uma explained, and Evie just stood there, wringing her hands and fretting despite Uma’s reassurances.

“Stay here. He knows I’m around, so I might could get away with taking over for him on the totally fake search for her mother,” Uma instructed Evie, and Evie nodded slightly, despite her worrying and anxiousness to get to Mal at all costs.

Uma then proceeded to stroll over to him.

“Hey, Carlos,” Uma greeted, and Carlos looked up at her from his conversation with the little kid with his eyes wide in surprise at seeing her. Mal, however, looked immensely relieved upon seeing her, and Uma offered her the barest of glances in favor of keeping her eyes on Carlos and hopefully pulling off her con effectively.

“Whatcha doin’?” Uma questioned, and Carlos just smiled at her slightly.

“I was waiting on Jane to come out of the bathroom so we could go to the corn dog stand when I found this little girl that lost her mom,” Carlos told Uma with a grin, and Uma just nodded slightly, taking in the story that Mal had weaved coupled with the effects of her own story.

“Huh. Well, that’s not good. Poor little _baby_ ,” Uma told him, intentionally phrasing it as a biting comment to Mal, and Mal narrowed her eyes at Uma, unimpressed with the entire situation.

Uma looked up and realized that Jane was approaching. Uma almost smiled in relief, but she held back the urge in favor of stepping closer to Carlos and pointing to Jane.

“I think Jane’s coming back.”

“Oh! But I still haven’t found her mom yet,” Carlos told Uma, and she felt herself soften a bit at the pure concern in his gaze. She even almost felt bad for tricking him in the way that they were, but Uma did always enjoy a good scheme, even if it was mostly for Mal’s benefit.

So, Uma just shook her head sadly before her face suddenly lit up in a grin.

“Well, I could take over for you,” Uma told him, and Carlos eyes her strangely. Carlos raised an eyebrow at the pirate skeptically.

“Are you sure? No offense, but you really don’t strike me as the most… responsible… person,” Carlos explained, attempting to tread carefully but Uma just narrowed her eyes at him.

“Watch it, de Vil. I can and will whoop your butt,” Uma pointed at him in warning, and Carlos just swallowed slightly.

“But seriously, I can take care of one little lost brat- kid. One little lost kid,” Uma told him, and Carlos watched her, obviously gauging whether he thought he could give the girl to her or not. He looked back at Jane once and then at Uma again. After a moment, he sighed and handed Mal over to Uma.

“Okay. Her mom’s got long, black hair and she’s really nice,” Carlos explained to the pirate, and Uma nodded, trying not to smile at the fact that Mal had almost perfectly described Evie except for the fact that Evie had a natural shade of navy blue.

“Welp, I’ll be on the lookout,” Uma told him, offering a small two-fingered salute as she started to turn and leave.

“Don’t worry, this is a nice lady. She’ll help you find your mom,” Carlos told Mal reassuringly.

“Okay. See you, Car- mister,” Mal changed her words quickly, grinning at him. Carlos furrowed his brow, tilting his head to the side as he regarded her.

“Y’know, come to think of it, you really remind me of someone,” Carlos noted, and Uma froze, very worried that he was about to discover the truth. Carlos just stared for a few moments, but he eventually just shrugged.

“Huh… I can’t think of it. I guess it’s just the purple hair. Not everybody has that. It’s very pretty,” Carlos complimented. Mal just nodded sweetly, too shocked at the fact that the boy that was usually so smart had not managed to put together things. Carlos then bade her farewell before walking over to meet Jane so they could head to the totally fake corn dog stand.

Uma and Mal waved for a moment before Uma started to drag Mal back to Evie.

“Ow, not so tight!” Mal complained, and Uma exhaled out of her nose irritably.

“Look, Mal, you gave Evie and me--- well, you know, Evie--- a heart attack,” Uma started, and Mal noted Uma’s slip of the tongue and was about to call her on it until Uma kept talking.

“By the way, Evie’s going to totally smother you when she gets the chance,” Uma told Mal, but before they even reached where Evie had been previously standing, Evie rushed toward them, scooping Mal up into her arms.

Evie hugged her tightly, and Mal returned it as well as her tiny arms could as she put them around Evie’s neck firmly. Evie could feel the relief wash over her form and she almost felt like collapsing as she squeezed Mal even tighter.

“Mal, are you okay?” Evie questioned worriedly.

“I’d be a lot more okay if you stopped choking me to death,” Mal wheezed, and Evie let up her hold a bit, but still kept her arms around the little girl firmly.

“Don’t scare me like that again,” Evie told Mal sternly, but anyone could easily hear the love in her voice. Mal nodded against Evie’s shoulder, and Evie just sighed deeply.

“So why did you run off?” Evie questioned, pulling back finally after a few moments. Mal placed her hands on Evie’s shoulders to hold herself up so she could talk to her much larger best friend.

“I was going to the trampolines,” Mal expressed, and Evie sighed deeply, shaking her head as she pressed her forehead against Mal’s as she allowed her head to rest as she shut her eyes.

“Mal, good grief,” Evie spoke, and Mal just offered a pouty lip.

“What time is it, Uma?” Evie questioned, and Uma reached into her pocket, withdrawing her phone as she checked.

“It’s… Twelve forty-six,” Uma answered, and Evie sighed deeply as she opened her eyes to look into Mal’s. Mal just eyed Evie sadly, hoping that the bluenette would give in to the battle that she could see Evie fighting currently.

Evie’s gaze finally softened, and she allowed a small smile to grace her features. She leaned forward and kissed Mal’s nose before pulling away and shifting Mal so that she was on her hip.

“Well, let’s go to those trampolines,” Evie informed Mal, and Mal immediately started bouncing against her in the midst of her excitement. Evie just chuckled.

“Awesome! Put me down, Evie, and let’s go!” Mal cried, but Evie just started walking in the direction of the trampolines, refusing to heed Mal’s pleas.

“No, honey, you can’t get down. Something bad might happen to you,” Evie babied, and Uma looked at her oddly but didn’t say anything. Mal just huffed and looked in front of them grumpily.

After a few moments, they were at the trampolines, and Evie was holding Mal as they stood in line. Uma was leaned against the railing nearby, waiting on Evie to let Mal go.

“Now, when you get on that thing, make sure you keep a careful watch on the straps. You don’t want it flinging you out,” Evie explained carefully and Mal just groaned as they moved up in line so that only one person was in front of them.

“I’m fine. Sheez, you’re acting like I really am five,” Mal complained, and Evie just blew on the chubby cheek nearest to her. Mal winced, placing her hands on Evie’s face and pushing her away.

“Ew, did you really have to do that?!”

“I can’t help it. You have absolutely adorable chipmunk cheeks in this form, and they simply _must_ be taken advantage of,” Evie told her sweetly, feeling affection for the little girl swell in her heart.

It had been hard to keep herself reminded of the fact that this child was actually her nineteen-year-old best friend. It almost seemed that as a result of this new shape Mal had taken, her feelings of protectiveness had magnified dramatically.

They stepped forward in the line, and Evie offered the man some money before putting Mal down finally.

“Be careful, okay? And have fun,” Evie expressed, and Mal waved her away before strolling through the gate. With one last long look, Evie went along the side of the short line and went over so that she was leaning against the railing with Uma.

Mal had wandered over near to where Evie and Uma were relaxing, slowly making her way over to the trampoline in front of the two older girls. Evie’s face lit up in a grin as she completely unnecessarily spoke up and instructed Mal on what she should do.

“Okay, sweetie, just go over there to the trampoline and let them strap you in, okay?” Evie told Mal, mollycoddling her unashamedly as she knelt and waved to the girl. For her part, Mal just rolled her eyes as she climbed up onto the trampoline.

Evie then straightened, accidentally meeting Uma’s gaze in the process. Uma was just looking at her with an eyebrow raised. Evie returned it slightly, trying to figure out why Uma was eyeing her so oddly.

“What?” Evie asked, and Uma shrugged.

“Nothing. It’s just that you’re getting awfully into this whole mothering role. You sure you ain’t thinking she’s a baby for real?” Uma posed the question, and Evie’s eyes went wide at the insinuation.

“No, of course not! I’m just worried about her safety. After all, she just got lost a few minutes ago!”

“And I know and am sure that’s true,” Uma granted. “It’s just… I think that you’re also a little desperate to protect her even when it’s just small things that’s really not necessary for you to hold her hand for.”

Evie blinked, feeling that comment hit her a hard. She didn’t like the feeling it brought with it, so she adamantly protested against it.

“No, I’m not.”

“I think you are.”

“No. I’m not,” Evie replied resolutely, and Uma shook her head slightly, looking away from the bluenette as they watched Mal jump on the trampoline.

“It’s nice to care for her, and it’s nice for her to need me,” Evie told Uma quietly, and Uma looked at her carefully, her calm, dark eyes settling on Evie’s profile. Uma just kept her gaze on Evie, silently reassuring the bluenette that Evie had Uma’s full attention.

“She used to need me all the time. Like for helping her get ready for a date with Ben, or to help her with some of her royal duties. But now that she’s grown up more and can do all of those things without my help,” Evie trailed off. She opened her mouth for a moment again before shutting it quickly, considering quietly as she tried to think of how to say what she wanted to say.

“She just… Doesn’t need me like she used to,” Evie finally admitted, and Uma furrowed her brow, nodding her head slightly before looking at Mal as she jumped. Uma raised an eyebrow at Mal, and she nudged Evie with her shoulder to get the girl’s attention. Evie followed her gaze and she saw that Mal was making faces at Evie, trying to get her attention. Evie grinned widely, laughing as Mal acted silly.

Uma shook her head at the both of them, but she then looked at Evie with a rare sincerity.

“Evie, she’s never stopped,” Uma told her, and Evie shifted her gaze to Uma, tilting her head slightly in question.

“She’s never stopped needing you. Mal will need you until the day she dies. You’re her big sister. And that’s probably one of the most important roles that any single person can play,” Uma explained, and Evie soaked in every word silently.

“You give her vital advice all the time. I’ve seen you do it,” Uma reassured her, and Evie nodded slowly.

“So, just… Feel free to enjoy the now without being insecure about what definitely isn’t happening to you two,” Uma told Evie carefully. Evie offered Uma a sweet smile before wrapping an arm around her and bringing her closer.

“Woah, woah, you might’ve told that lady earlier that I was your sister, but don’t make this whole huggy thing a habit. That’s for you and Mal exclusively,” Uma pointed out light-heartedly, and Evie just laughed as she squeezed Uma a little tighter. She then let her go, eyeing her thankfully as she grinned. Uma just rolled her eyes with a fond smile, but turned her gaze to Mal.

“I’m practically a master at this by now. I bet you two couldn’t do any better,” Mal challenged, and Uma just scoffed.

“Pfft. I’d like to see you try, squirt,” Uma replied, and Evie just shook her head at the both of them, her warm brown eyes resting on Mal.

“C’mon. I dare you. Get on,” Mal pointed at Uma, egging her on, and Uma pulled up on her pants before heading over to the entrance to the trampolines so she could get in line.

“Evie? Are you getting on?”

“No, thank you. I choose life. Besides, who else is going to catch you when you go flying?” Evie asked, secretly afraid of getting on them anyway, and Mal just raised an eyebrow at her before starting to cluck.

Evie pursed her lips, eyeing Mal with an unimpressed expression, but Mal just kept on trying to connive her into getting on one. Evie just sighed after a moment, consenting to the challenge before following Uma to the line. She took her place in line next to Uma, and Uma grinned at her.

“So? Taking a walk on the wild side?”

“I guess so.”

“Tell me, Evie,” Uma started, turning to Evie and looking up into her eyes with the greatest of seriousness.

“Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?” Uma questioned, and Evie shrugged, honestly having no idea what Uma was even getting at with this but knowing that she was just trying to mess with her.

“Well, if you count Hades at Mal’s wedding, then yes, I have,” Evie replied, and Uma just laughed, shaking her head at the bluenette as they were let in the gate to join Mal in her trampoline adventures.

“Good answer, good answer,” Uma replied, having to give it to Evie for her creative reply.

The two of them walked over to some trampolines nearby Mal and the people working there started to strap them in. Evie was already mildly terrified, even though she had willingly agreed to the entire ordeal.

Evie watched as Uma’s trampoline was starting to be inflated, and she quickly realized that the inflation was causing the magnified ability to bounce. So as quick as she saw the man that had strapped her in heading for the inflator, she spoke up.

“Oh, don’t worry, sir, you don’t have to fill mine up that much with air,” Evie informed them, but he didn’t listen. Evie just exhaled out of her nose as he inflated the trampoline so that she would be able to really jump high on it, despite her wishes that there be hardly any elasticity.

Evie sucked in a quick breath of air as she gaped at Uma who had already started to jump at least as high as the top of the pole holding the straps. She then looked to her right to see that Mal was jumping even higher, which automatically made her want to rush forward and catch the girl in her arms before she could endanger herself any further.

“Whoo!!! Come on, E! Jump!” Mal cried, flipping in mid-air, and Evie nearly had heart failure at the sight. However, the girl came back down gracefully, so Evie allowed herself to calm down at least a little.

“Okay… The four to five-year-old can do it. I can do this,” Evie assured herself, and she gave a little experimental hop. When nothing too great happened, Evie decided she’d try again. She hopped a few more times before she realized that she was getting much higher than she had ever dreamed of going. Of course, Evie had only envisioned about six inches off of the trampoline’s surface.

“Oh, gosh! Oh, gosh!” Evie cried, and Uma just laughed, jumping at far greater of an altitude than Evie currently was.

“Come on, chicken! You decided you were woman enough to get on one! Don’t just wimp out on us,” Uma announced as she bounced.

Evie exhaled deeply, before putting more effort into her jumps. After only a few moments, she had worked her momentum so that she was leaping almost as high as Uma and Mal. Evie was giggling uncontrollably, and it could partially be attributed to nerves, but she was too consumed in her enjoyment of seeing everything around her from a completely different perspective. For the first time that she got on this trampoline, Evie actually felt comfortable with what she was doing.

After several minutes of Evie’s success in this endeavor, Mal looked over at Uma the best that she could through the contraptions as she jumped.

“Hey, Uma?! Do a flip! Bet you can’t!” Mal told her, and Uma narrowed her eyes, accepting the challenge wholeheartedly. Uma proceeded to flip and just barely made it before landing on her head.

“Whoo! That was awesome! I’m awesome! What’s my name?!” Uma cried with a cackle, laughing like a madwoman, and Evie watched her carefully. Evie then looked at Mal, noting how happy it seemed to make the girl that Uma had tried it. Evie pursed her lips slightly, deciding that she’d try to do a flip like they had done.

Evie jumped for a few more times before finally putting a lot of power into her last one to make sure she got up high in the air. Evie then turned her body forward.

And as she soared downwards upside down, she realized that she was stuck in that position. Evie looked in the direction of the quickly incoming trampoline and she hit her nose and face against the surface of the trampoline. She scrunched her nose, the blow hurting a bit but not as badly as she had expected it to. But she still was suspended upside down.

After only a moment, Uma cracked up laughing, and Mal launched into a laughing fit as well at Evie’s expense. Evie just sighed deeply, rolling her eyes at the both of them, but nevertheless, an enormous, somewhat embarrassed smile graced her face as she giggled a bit with them.

Little did they know that someone would soon be seeing their shenanigans and exposing them all for the world to see.

Jordan, daughter of the Genie, was looking through the natural homegrown honey that was available for sale at the festival, marveling over all of the possibilities and uses for the honey on her enormously popular Auragram page.

“Wow, you know, this would really appeal to my country followers. But even better than that, everybody in Auradon would be talking about the fact that I’ve got real, genuine honey. Honey with an actual honeycomb in it! How often do you see that?!” Jordan announced to the shop owner, and the other girl agreed with an eager nod in hopes that Jordan would simply hurry up and buy the honey.

Just as Jordan was about to purchase the honey, she heard the sounds of boisterous laughter that only belonged to one person she had ever met. Jordan turned quickly in the direction of the trampolines that were only several yards away, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Jordan spoke to herself under her breath as she withdrew her phone.

It was quite possibly the weirdest thing that Jordan had ever witnessed. There were what appeared to be Uma and Evie there jumping on trampolines, hanging out without Mal but instead with some kid with purple hair that they both seemed to be extremely affectionate towards. Jordan tilted her head slightly, totally baffled by the sight.

What were Evie and Uma doing with a kid?

Nevertheless, Jordan determined that it was most certainly worth sending to the other VKs and posting on social media for everyone to see. She was honestly quite curious to see if anyone knew the origin of this situation.

So she took a photo and started to text it in her group chat that she knew Audrey, Ben, and Jane were part of. She then opened up her Auragram app.

“And… Posted,” Jordan pronounced as she put it on where all of her followers could see. Jordan looked at the little purple-haired girl ponderingly as she considered the child.

“Huh… She reminds me of someone,” Jordan trailed off. But then she shrugged and continued on about her way.

“Oh, well. Cute kid, though.”


	7. Lying Our Way Out

“Dadgum it, I thought we agreed you were answering the phone the next time one of them called!” Uma cried as Evie hung up the phone for the millionth time since they had left the festival.

“Well, we don’t have our story straight!” Evie told her in response, grunting as she hauled in the enormous amount of plushes through her front door and somehow managed to carry Mal on her hip as well.

“We’re going to say it’s my dear Aunt Morgana’s daughter,” Uma told Evie, and Evie just shook her head slightly.

“That’s not going to work. You acted like you didn’t know Mal at all when you took her from Carlos earlier,” Evie pointed out as she bent down, putting Mal on the floor.

Uma just groaned in irritation with the entire situation, pulling her own pile of toys through the door behind the bluenette.

They had left the festival shortly after they finished up jumping on the trampolines. They were originally going to leave the toys that they won at the stand until Mal remembered them and demanded that they go back for the plushes. So, they complied, and the man had fortunately not done anything with them since the girls had won all of his stock. The girls then, hauling what felt like thousands of toys, headed home.

It was then that they started getting texts and calls nonstop from Carlos, Jay, Audrey, and Jane.

“What do you suggest we do, then, girl genius?”

“I don’t know,” Evie replied calmly, her brow furrowed as she looked around, trying to find a place to dump off her toys.

Uma opened her mouth, about to say something else to Evie, but she suddenly heard a motor running. This was a really strange occurrence due to the fact that Evie’s house was so far from the road. Uma turned to face the driveway quickly and her eyes widened as she gaped at the sight of a Ford Raptor pulling along with an easily identifiable pawprint-covered white Mini Cooper right behind it.

“Well, you might want to know pretty quick. We’ve got company,” Uma informed her, the edges of panic easing into her voice. Evie and Mal turned to look in the direction that Uma was pointing, and Evie’s eyes went wide as she fully freaked out.

“Oh, my gosh!!! Shut the door, Uma, shut it, shut it!” Evie cried, and Uma complied quickly, closing the door and locking it for good measure. She spun around on her heel to gaze at Evie.

“What are we going to do with all these toys?!” Evie cried, and Uma shook her head, trying to come up with a plan quickly as she looked around the room. Her eyes quickly caught sight of the kitchen, and she hurried with her pile of stuffed animals.

“C’mon! Put it in your kitchen closet!” Uma cried, and Evie followed her quickly, Mal toddling behind both of them as fast as her short little legs could carry her.

Uma yanked open the door, and her eyes widened at the perfect rows of soup cans all stacked and categorized by type and by alphabetical order according to the name of the type. Uma stared at this for a moment before just deciding to let it go, slamming in teddy bears and unicorns as she crammed them in and successfully messed up Evie’s soup cans.

Uma could tell that Evie didn’t like her doing that, but Evie followed along mostly without hesitation. Evie pushed in a toy dog, shortly followed by a sheep, and then a purple cat.

“I hope this closet holds all of this junk.”

“It’s not junk!” Mal defiantly announced, and Uma just rolled her eyes as she pushed the stuffed toys in.

“Whatever,” Uma replied quickly.

“You know, I prefer to call it a pantry,” Evie expressed as she grunted, trying to shove an especially large stuffed bear inside of the small space.

“It’s not big enough to be a pantry,” Uma told her simply, jumping forward with a sudden burst of force as she tried to help Evie get in the last bear.

“It’s just weird to have a kitchen closet, though,” Evie spoke, voicing her opinions on the matter, and Uma scoffed.

“No, no, you know what’s weird? Organizing your soup cans in perfect order.”

Evie and Uma both gave a mighty push at the same time and they managed to just barely get the door to shut. They stepped back tentatively, hoping to goodness that Evie’s closet door wasn’t about to burst open at the seams.

After a few moments, they determined it was safe, and they heard a knock at the door. Evie sighed deeply in relief at the fact that they had hidden all of the evidence. But as soon as she turned around, she realized not all of the evidence was hidden.

“Mal! Go hide!” Evie whisper-yelled, and Mal looked around frantically, almost seeming as if she was considering hopping in the garbage bin.

“Where?!” Mal demanded.

“In my work room! Jay and Carlos never go in there because I always keep them for a long time so I can have live models,” Evie told Mal, and the small faerie nodded resolutely before hurrying off toward the sewing room. Evie then started toward the front door, Uma hot on her heels.

“What are you telling them?” Uma asked, and Evie just shook her head.

“Get on the couch and look comfortable. There’s some nail polish in the end-table drawer. Put some on your fingers and act like you and I have been hanging out,” Evie told her, and Uma raised an eyebrow, impressed with Evie’s scheming abilities. Uma hurried over and started to make a fake scene.

Evie put on one of her sweetest, most loving smiles as she unlocked and opened the door to the boys and their dates.

“Hey, guys!” Evie excitedly greeted, making sure that she looked perfectly innocent and had no signs of deceit on her face. She really hoped that she could channel everything that she had learned from Mal over time.

“What brings you here?” Evie asked as she waved them in and the four people on her doorstep came inside carefully.

Carlos and Jay just shared a glance, and Evie kept that same smile plastered on her face. Audrey raised an eyebrow skeptically, and Jane just glanced at Audrey with an odd look on her face.

“Well, we’ve been calling your phone nonstop,” Jay started, and Evie just tilted her head, allowing her smile to melt away into false concern.

“Really? My phone’s been dead, and I lost my charger,” Evie told them, and Audrey’s eyes narrowed slightly. Evie just avoided looking at the princess, knowing that Audrey was onto the fact that Evie was running them a line of it.

However, the boys seemed to be believing it.

“Oh, okay. That explains it,” Carlos nodded with a slight laugh.

“But what it doesn’t explain is why you and Uma were at the festival. And with a kid,” Jay pointed out, and Evie tried her best to look surprised and completely clueless.

“The festival? I didn’t go to the festival. Didn’t you guys go today with Jane and Audrey?” Evie asked, a gentle smile coming onto her face as she eyed her two family members.

“Yeah, we did. But we saw a picture of you and Uma on Jordan’s Auragram and you two were with the exact kid that I just handed off to Uma earlier,” Carlos pointed out, and Evie just kept her grin on her face as she mentally sent an S.O.S. to Uma.

“I _was_ at the festival,” Uma piped up suddenly and everyone looked at her as if she were an alien, the group of them surprised at the fact that Uma was willingly over at Evie’s without Mal there to run interference. “But I never saw Evie there. I dropped by here afterward when Gil and Harry dumped me off to spend the night with Mal and Evie.”

Audrey immediately widened her eyes in surprise and quickly narrowed them as she distrustfully eyed Evie and Uma. Evie knew this was not a good explanation at all, because Audrey had already heard Uma vocally express her distaste for any sleepovers with Mal and Evie. However, Evie had to go with it anyway since Uma had already went on this track.

“But what about the kid? Why were you on the trampolines with her?” Carlos asked, and Evie looked back at Uma curiously, hoping she had a good answer for that one because Evie really couldn’t help her with this since she supposedly wasn’t there.

“Well, I had found her mom--- who was a really young lady and was probably the person you saw in the picture--- jumping on the trampoline and after they were reunited, I got on with them while I waited for Harry and Gil to get back from wherever they were at,” Uma explained with that carefree manner that she was so infamous for.

“Why does her mom have blue hair?” Audrey questioned suddenly, and Evie looked at her quickly, forcing her gaze to remain on the pink princess’s despite her intense fear that Audrey was about to discover the truth.

“Well, you know how it is lately. Evie’s a real trendsetter,” Uma carefreely commented as she examined her nails, and Carlos looked at her for a moment before finally nodding and ultimately deciding that he believed her.

Evie immediately found herself full of relief, glad that at least the boys and Jane seemed to be falling for the story that her and Uma had so intricately told.

Carlos then looked in the direction of Evie’s kitchen hungrily and he offered Evie a grin.

“Hey, Eves? You got anything good in your kitchen?”

“Sure, Snowflake, go get you something,” Evie told him sweetly, her sheer impulse getting the better of her before she suddenly realized that she knew exactly where he was going to go. He always wanted the pringles that she kept in her pantry.

“But not the pantry!” Evie suddenly cried, and Carlos turned to look at her oddly as a result of her sudden outburst.

“I’ve been cutting down on unhealthy foods in the pantry and I’ve got better selection in the fridge. Like some yogurt,” Evie suggested, and Audrey’s eyebrow somehow went even higher than it had been all this time so far.

“Or baby carrots,” Uma mentioned offhandedly, and Evie almost turned and shot the pirate a glare, but she kept herself under control.

Carlos just nodded and offered her a thumbs-up as he headed in the kitchen for the refrigerator. Jane wasted no time in following behind him, wanting to get her hands on some snacks as well.

Evie then turned to Audrey and Jay as they stood there before her. Jay looked like his usual carefree and relaxed self. However, Audrey was the stark opposite, her eyes narrowed as she asked a question unvoiced: what was going on here?

“So where’s Mal? And what were you and Uma doing before we got here?” Audrey questioned skeptically, and Evie just flashed her an enormous, bedazzling smile that she knew good and well would not work on Audrey since the princess was a girl of Evie’s own breed.

“Oh, M went to the supermarket to get some popcorn for when we watch a movie tonight,” Evie told Audrey, and Audrey nodded slowly.

“And Uma and I have been doing girl talk and painting each other’s nails,” Evie told Audrey, and Uma raised her hand up, flashing the nail polish on her fingers that she had just put on while no one was paying attention.

Audrey slowly nodded, and Evie knew that she was onto the fact that they were lying. Audrey then opened her mouth, no doubt about to voice those feelings when a loud thud sounded off in Evie’s work room.

Everyone looked in that direction in surprise, and Evie closed her eyes, praying that Mal hadn’t done much damage to anything.

Carlos and Jane reappeared in the kitchen doorway, their eyes wide and their cheeks stuffed as they looked at the others.

“What was that?” Jay finally asked curiously, and Evie shrugged in a manner that she hoped was nonchalant.

“Oh, probably just something sitting too precariously on the edge of my desk,” Evie spoke, and she then turned to the pirate lounging on the couch. “Uma, would you mind going to see what fell?”

Uma quickly nodded, getting up from the sofa and Evie almost had a heart attack when she realized Audrey was following Uma. She scanned her mind quickly, trying to think of some way to stop the other girl.

“Hey, Evie? Do you mind if I go with Uma and look at your latest designs? I would love to order something from you,” Audrey expressed, and Evie knew that Audrey was simply making up an excuse to go and see what secret that Uma and Evie were obviously hiding. However, Evie couldn’t tell her no because that would be totally not in character for her and would notify the others that she was up to something.

“I don’t mind at all, Auds. Let me know what you liked best when you come back,” Evie finally answered, and Audrey and Uma started off down the hall in the direction of the work room.

Uma was majorly worried at this point, knowing that Audrey was not stupid even in the slightest sense of the word. Audrey actually was almost as good at scheming as a seasoned Isle kid.

They walked in silence for just a moment, Uma’s mind racing as she tried to think of a way to warn Mal of their approach, but Audrey suddenly spoke, interrupting Uma’s thoughts.

“Okay, Uma, what is going on?” Audrey demanded, stopping in the hallway to talk to Uma one-on-one without any others hearing.

“What do you mean, what’s going on?” Uma asked innocently, and she winced a bit at the fact that it sounded much too innocent, but she covered this up with an enormous grin.

“Oh, please. You would never do a sleepover with Evie in a million years. The only person you’d remotely even consider it with would be Mal, but you know she’s so attached to Evie that Evie would be there, too. And furthermore, you hate girl talk and painting nails together,” Audrey pointed out as she grabbed Uma’s wrist and pulled it up so that her nails were shining in the light.

Uma rolled her eyes.

“Can’t I want to spend time with our friendly neighborhood Eves without being grilled like some kind of criminal?”

“Yeah, if it was in your nature to want to spend time with her!” Audrey exclaimed, and Uma just scoffed as they started down the hall again, Audrey right behind Uma.

When they finally got to the door, Uma was exceedingly nervous, and she turned to Audrey, leaning against the doorframe.

“Well, I’ll just pop in here and grab Evie’s design book on my way out from checking for fallen objects,” Uma spoke, and Audrey put her hand on the handle quickly.

“You know, I’ll bet that there’s something in here that you don’t want me to see,” Audrey informed Uma, and Uma just shook her head quickly, desperately attempting to negate Audrey’s statement.

“No, no, of course not!”

“Yes. Yes, I think there is,” Audrey declared and with a swift dip of the handle as well as a push on her part, she opened the door, stepping in expectantly.

Uma, full of dread followed her in, and her eyes widened in surprise as she realized that there was absolutely no sign of Mal anywhere in the room. In fact, the only thing out of place was a fallen mannequin nearby the open door leading out into Evie’s yard.

Audrey suddenly looked very lost and Uma couldn’t help but grin victoriously at the fact that Audrey hadn’t found any of the evidence that she had so hoped for.

“Huh. Nothing in here. Just like I told you,” Uma pointedly spoke before passing Audrey and lifting up Evie’s mannequin. Audrey narrowed her eyes, looking all around carefully before flipping through Evie’s design book absently.

Uma strolled over to the doorway and leaned against it carefully, waiting on Audrey to finish up. Audrey finally shut the book softly, scouring the room once more, and she approached Uma.

“Something is going on.”

“Hey, if it helps you sleep better at night, just keep telling yourself that,” Uma replied simply with a shrug and a grin. Audrey furrowed her brow and strode past Uma, not pleased in the least but not particularly having any definitive proof of her theory of untruthfulness.

As soon as Audrey had left, Uma sighed deeply in relief, giving the room one last glance before following Audrey out.

“C’mon, Eves, tell me. What were you two talking about?” Carlos’s voice could be heard as Audrey and Uma approached.

“We were talking about… girl stuff,” Evie lamely finished, and Carlos whined, desperate to know what in the world that his older sister had been discussing with Uma of all people.

“Please?!” Carlos begged as the princess and the pirate joined the both of them once again.

“You don’t wanna know,” Uma piped up helpfully in an attempt to ward off Carlos’s relentless pestering, seeing that Evie needed a save in this situation. Audrey turned toward Uma quickly, glaring at her suspiciously, and Uma simply ignored her.

“Oh, trust me, I wanna know. I’m her brother, and I’ve got to be updated on the tea spilling,” Carlos informed Uma, keeping most of his attentions toward Evie.

“Okay… Well, if you must know, we were talking about when we start,” Evie told him, dropping the bomb without a single flinch. Uma glanced at all of the people present. Jane suddenly looked very awkward, Jay seemed as if he might turn and run at any moment, and Audrey was simply shocked at the fact that Evie had said something like that.

However, Carlos, the poor and unsuspecting boy, had no idea of what that meant and was still just as lost as before but more interested as well.

“When you guys start what?” Carlos questioned eagerly, completely invested in Evie’s words. Evie swallowed a bit, and Uma could see her more ladylike instincts fighting her desire to run the boys --- and as a direct result, the girls with them--- off.

“Our period,” Evie replied shortly, and Uma almost laughed at the expression of pure disgust that came onto Carlos’s face in miracle time. Carlos looked at Jay with horror, and Jay just shook his head, sighing deeply before starting to head toward the door.

“And on that note, I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.”

“Don’t worry, guys, you know you can never outstay your welcome. You know what? You could hang with us and talk about your problems, too,” Uma couldn’t resist jeering, and Jay was before long in the open area of Evie’s front doorway, Carlos and Jane quickly behind him.

“Well, we’ve really got to go. I told Audrey I’d take her for one of those long drives that she loves so much,” Jay explained with an awkward grin as he looked to Audrey and subtly communicated with his eyes that he wanted her to come over there with him and play along.

“Yeah, me and Jane are going to go and do that, too,” Carlos somewhat lamely excused himself, and Jane nodded wholeheartedly, taking his arm in her hands.

For Audrey’s part, she offered a hard glance in Uma’s direction before looking at Evie quietly and harshly for a moment. Evie just kept her sweet, gentle smile as she looked at the princess, mentally begging Audrey to leave.

Audrey finally looked away from them and gave Jay a bit of a smile before accompanying him. However, Uma and Evie could easily tell that Audrey had not lost her suspicions surrounding the entire ordeal in the least.

“Okay, then. You guys have fun,” Evie expressed angelically and the four of them quickly made their escape, Audrey forced to leave just as quickly because Jay was practically dragging her away.

As soon as Jane pulled the door shut behind them, Uma and Evie both sighed deeply in relief, offering grins to one another as Uma nodded to Evie in compliment.

“Great job.”

“You were great, too,” Evie pointed out, but Uma noticed her puff up just a little with the praise. Uma’s ability to make Evie inflate with pride was significantly less than Mal’s, but it was still definitely prominent.

“I never knew you could lie that well,” Uma mentioned somewhat deviously, and Evie just shrugged, tilting her head a bit with the movement.

“Oh, well. I’ve learned a few things from Mal.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Uma replied, chuckling all the while as she followed Evie as the bluenette started off toward her work room to let Mal know the coast was clear.

They entered the room, and Evie furrowed her brow in worry as she realized that Mal was nowhere in sight.

“Mal? Mal?!” Evie cried, growing more and more panicked by the minute.

Suddenly, the closet door opened, and out tumbled Mal. Evie grinned widely as she hurried over to the little girl, lifting her up and kissing her cheek lovingly.

“There you are. Wonderful hiding,” Evie praised, and hugged Mal tightly. Mal coughed a bit, wiping her face furiously.

“Ew! Do you have to have so many feathers in your closet?!” Mal asked as she attempted desperately to get the feathers out of her mouth and off of her face. Evie just chuckled, nuzzling Mal’s nose with her own.

“Well, you know how I am,” Evie offered the simple statement as an explanation.

“Yep. Extravagant,” Uma piped up unhelpfully, but Evie chose to ignore her comment in favor of paying more attention to the fact that Mal looked so disturbed so quickly.

“Hey, E? I need to tell you something,” Mal told the bluenette, and Evie tilted her head attentively as she brushed Mal’s hair away from her face.

“What?” Mal then leaned in closer, putting a hand to the side of her mouth as she quietly spoke to Evie.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Mal whispered, and Evie raised her eyebrows in surprise. However, she quickly returned to her usual calm expression.

“We can take care of that,” Evie easily agreed, and Evie carried Mal toward the bathroom, wasting no time.

“But I gotta… you know… Go,” Mal told Evie, and Evie faltered in her steady strides as she gazed at Mal.

“Oh. Oh… That kind… Well, it’ll be all good,” Evie nodded resolutely as she opened up the bathroom door, putting Mal down and helping her get onto the toilet safely.

Uma approached, blissfully unknowledgeable of what was going on, and her eyes widened as she gaped at Mal sitting there on the latrine. Uma quickly turned and looked away.

“Well, that was more than I ever wanted to see,” Uma awkwardly expressed, and Evie just shook her head fondly at the pirate captain before suddenly freezing as she realized something.

“Oh, no!” Evie cried suddenly, and Uma raised an eyebrow, risking a slight glance back in Evie’s direction.

“What?”

“I need to call Ben and explain why Mal won’t be coming back to their house,” Evie explained quickly.

“Okay,” Uma agreed simply and Evie started off for the other room so that she could talk to Ben away from anyone that could be overheard.

Uma started to follow her, but Evie stopped and turned to the pirate captain swiftly.

“You need to stay with Mal while she uses the bathroom,” Evie explained, and Uma winced a bit before nodding slowly.

“Okay…”

“Oh, and you have to help her wipe because children of her age can’t do it themselves that well,” Evie told her, and Uma’s mouth nearly dropped to the floor in her pure shock, not hearing anything beyond “help” and “wipe.” Mal immediately winced in disgust from her place on the toilet.

“That’s disgusting!” Uma cried, and Evie just shook her head as she left Uma there with the little girl.

“I’ve got to call Ben. I’ll take over if you guys aren’t through after I’m done.” Evie then headed for her kitchen. Uma scrunched up her nose in pure revulsion at the thought of helping Mal wipe.

Uma wasted no time in pulling Mal’s door shut and leaning against the door in wait of Mal to finish or preferably for Evie to come back.

After a few minutes, Evie still hadn’t returned, and Uma was really worried that she was about to be called for poop duty.

Sure enough, Mal’s much too squeaky and tiny voice piped up suddenly.

“Uma? I, um… I’m done. But I think I can handle it myself,” Mal said, and Uma just shut her eyes tightly, dreading this fully as she knew she was still going to help Mal despite how much she dreaded it. Besides the fact that it was simply the right thing to do, Uma knew that Evie would totally flip out if Uma didn’t do it.

“Naw… You and I both know Evie will blow a fuse if we don’t do it the right way,” Uma very begrudgingly told Mal as she turned and went inside the bathroom, dreading it completely.

However, as soon as she entered, she gagged hanging onto the doorframe as she nearly lost all of whatever she had eaten earlier. She coughed hard, shaking her head as her eyes watered. She accidentally inhaled through her nose once more as she attempted to stop gagging, and it sent her through another round of nausea.

“Have mercy! That’s friggin’ grown woman stink!” Uma cried out, coughing hard as she tried to keep her stomach where it belonged.

“It’s not that bad!” Mal protested, somewhere between laughing at Uma and being quite embarrassed as a result of the entire ordeal.

“Oh, my--- what the heck did you eat?!” Uma cried, offering a full body shudder.

“Where’s that trash can?! I need something in case I start blowing chunks,” Uma hacked, reaching over nearby the toilet and grabbing the garbage bin.

“Oh, stop being so dramatic!” Mal stumbled over the last word as Uma gagged, her entire body lurching forward a bit with the motion.

“I’m gonna die!”

However, while Uma was convinced that she was going to lose all of her abilities to smell, Evie was convinced that she was never going to get Ben to answer the phone.

“Come on, Ben, pick up,” Evie murmured under her breath. Evie knew that Ben likely had his phone on vibrate so that he could focus on his work. Evie had seen him do it a million times before when she was in his office working with him. But she really wished he would hear it over his own thoughts.

She hung up and dialed his number once again. She tapped her foot a bit impatiently, and to her great relief, he finally answered the phone.

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Hi, Ben,” Evie greeted, full of sugar as she usually was, and she could practically hear his smile on the other end of the line.

“ _Hey, Evie. What’s up?_ ”

“Oh, I just wanted to ask if it was okay for Mal to spend another night over here,” Evie explained to him, knowing his answer but still feeling it necessary to phrase it so it seemed he was making the decision.

“ _Of course! You know I don’t mind Mal coming over and spending time with you whenever she wants. You don’t even have to ask_ ,” Ben expressed, and Evie couldn’t help but mentally hug Ben and thank goodness that he was such a sweet guy.

“Wonderful! Thank you, Ben,” Evie expressed and was about to bid her farewell before Ben suddenly asked his next question.

“ _No problem, Evie. Do you mind if I talk to Mal really quickly?_ ” Ben questioned, and Evie’s eyes widened as she watched the girl in question enter the room with Uma on her tail, looking as if she might throw up.

“Oh… You want to talk to Mal?” Evie questioned, subtly letting the other two know what was going on. In response, Uma suddenly looked much more alert as she gazed at Evie in surprise. Mal gaped at Evie, trying to figure out how the bluenette was going to react to this one.

“ _Yeah, that’d be great_.” Evie swallowed in response, getting an idea and hoping desperately that it would work.

“Sure, Ben,” Evie replied, and she took a deep breath, looking at Uma and Mal. Uma furrowed her brow, trying to decipher Evie’s plan.

“Yo, Ben,” Evie spoke, her voice lowered and a bit harsher as she tried to imitate Mal. Uma just stared at Evie as if she had lost her mind.

“ _Mal? Why do you sound so--- Oh! Nice try, Evie. You almost had me there_ ,” Ben laughed, and Evie couldn’t help but laugh along, knowing that she had been caught and at the same time trying to figure out how to trick him.

“Yeah…”

“ _Can I talk to Mal now?_ ” Ben questioned, a laugh still in his voice as he addressed Evie warmly. Evie furrowed her brow, her eyes darting around as she attempted to think of any excuse that could work. Her eyes finally settled on Mal, and she pursed her lips slightly.

“Well… Mal can’t come to the phone right now,” Evie pointed out. “She’s in the restroom.”

“ _Oh. Well, you can just hand the phone in to her_ ,” Ben cheerfully told her, and Evie scanned her mind quickly in an attempt to figure out what to tell him to deter him from making her hand the phone to Mal.

Suddenly, Evie’s face lit up in an evil grin, and she raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

“I can’t. She started,” Evie spoke, and Uma rolled her eyes, smacking her forehead and groaning deeply.

Sure enough, it worked as Evie had hoped, and Ben was deathly silent on his side of the phone.

“ _Um… Does she need anything from here?_ ” Ben questioned tentatively, and Evie hated to torture him in the manner that she planned, but she really had no choice at this point.

“No, probably not. I’m fully equipped. I have stuff for heavy, light, and medium ble---”

“ _Okay! Well, Evie, tell her I love her, and uh… Bye!_ ” Ben hung up quickly, and Evie just grinned victoriously as she hung up the phone.

“Bye-bye, Ben,” Evie spoke to herself as she turned off her phone and looked at Mal and Uma proudly.

Mal and Uma shared a glance, and Evie just smiled, waiting on them to voice their opinions of her expertise.

After a moment, Mal shook her head, looking at Evie in something between pure awe and utter offense.

“And you scold me for lying…”


	8. Mal's Accident

“What time is it?” Evie asked as she watched Mal run around the room for reasons unbeknownst to her. Or maybe not a reason too unknown. After all, it could have been the cookie that Evie had given to Mal earlier.

Uma groaned deeply from her sunken place on the sofa, lifting up her phone and checking for Evie.

“It’s four thirty,” Uma replied, and shut her eyes as Mal came running over to the both of them. Evie sighed slightly, really wishing that Mal was back to normal. Evie was used to Mal acting kind of crazy, but not quite like this.

Mal came over to Evie quickly, her entire small face lit up in a big grin. Evie smiled in return, taking Mal’s face in her hands and looking at her lovingly.

“You wanna run, Evie?” Mal asked, and Evie just shook her head slightly before kissing Mal’s nose gently.

“No. I don’t have quite as much energy as you. Why don’t you ask Uma?” Evie questioned, and Uma shot the bluenette a dirty look as she relaxed. Mal sighed disappointedly, and Evie brushed Mal’s hair back a bit as the little girl came hurrying over to Uma, still very much on her sugar high from the cookie.

Mal climbed onto the couch with Uma, and the pirate barely cracked open one eye to look at the toddler.

“C’mon, Uma! Run with me!” Mal demanded, and Uma just exhaled out of her mouth.

“I ain’t running. Unfortunately for me, cookies don’t work that strongly on my big body,” Uma expressed, and Mal just furrowed her brow, placing her hands on her hips adorably.

“Let’s do something crazy!” Mal told Uma, standing up on the couch as she looked over at the pirate. Uma rolled her eyes, and gently pushed Mal’s stomach so that the kid fell down on the cushions on her behind.

“Nah,” Uma replied simply, and Mal’s eyes narrowed as she grew frustrated with Uma. Mal stood up once again, and she started to jump on the couch in an attempt to get Uma’s attention.

“C’mon, Uma! You lazy old lady!” Mal cried, jumping up and down as hard as she could. Uma moved only a little with Mal’s bounces, and Uma mostly found the entire situation humorous, which was quite the opposite of what Mal was after.

As Mal grew increasingly furious in her bouncing, Evie furrowed her brow, not liking how closely that Mal was growing to the edge of the couch.

“Mal? Mal, stop jumping on the couch,” Evie instructed, attempting to be firm with the little girl at least a little and knowing at the same time that Mal was operating with that same adult stubbornness.

“No, no, no! I want to!” Mal protested as she jumped up and down. Evie started to get up, aiming on grabbing the little girl and physically keeping her from jumping.

However, before she could even begin to do this, Mal fell off the couch face first.

“MAL!” Evie cried, rushing forward and falling on her knees as she grabbed the girl. Uma immediately got down on her knees with Evie, her eyes wide as she watched Evie bring Mal into her arms as she examined the little girl’s head.

It looked positively and absolutely terrible. There was a huge lump on Mal’s head and there was blood. Evie felt her heart stop as she gazed down at Mal. Mal seemed almost stunned as she was frozen in Evie’s grasp.

However, she wasn’t still for long as her face suddenly scrunched up and she started to cry loudly, wailing helplessly as she automatically started to reach up toward her head where the injury had been inflicted.

Evie grabbed Mal’s wrists and held them in her hands firmly, keeping the girl from touching the place.

“It hurts, Evie!” Mal cried, and Evie felt a sharp stab to her heart.

“M, honey, don’t touch it,” Evie patiently told her, trying to keep calm.

“But it hurts, Evie! It hurts really, really bad!” Mal screeched, tears rolling down her face, and Evie shushed the girl gently, pulling her near as Evie scanned her mind on what to do.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Evie reassured, holding Mal to her chest as she stood up quickly. Uma followed her swiftly, and Evie looked at the pirate. Uma looked like she was panicking, and Evie furrowed her brow. Uma took one look at Mal, and started pacing, muttering under her breath.

“Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! OH, MY GOSH!” she spoke in what was almost a chant.

“Uma, just calm down,” Evie instructed carefully and patiently, but the pirate just kept freaking out completely. This was really odd for Uma to act in this manner. Especially since she handled every other scary situation with the greatest of ease. Of course, this was Uma’s best friend that was magically a child that got hurt possibly very badly, and Uma was completely inexperienced with that.

“What are we gonna do?! She’s bleeding out!” Uma cried, and Evie shook her head, trying to keep Mal calm as Uma officially panicked.

“She’s not bleeding out,” Evie slowly expressed, and at the very mention of the phrase again, Mal screeched.

“What?! I’m bleeding out?!” Mal cried, and quickly went into an even greater amount of hysterics. Evie shook her head, attempting desperately to soothe Mal as she grabbed her phone in her pocket, trying to decipher who she should call for this sort of problem.

Finally, Evie decided that she needed to contact the hospital, and she sighed, quickly looking up the phone number for the nearest hospital.

Upon finding it, Evie swiftly dialed the series of numbers, and Uma was nearly pacing in the midst of her panic. Mal’s cries were starting to rise in volume, and so she held Mal closer to her, rocking the girl gently as the phone rang. Evie turned up her in-call volume as high as it would go so that whenever the person answered, it would be loud enough to hear outside of her ear.

“ _Hello, this is Mufasa Memorial Hospital_ ,” a woman answered the phone, and Evie took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself and her trembling body that just barely managed to keep Mal steady in her arms against her body.

“Hello-”

“Lady, the child fell off and she’s going to bleed out!” Uma suddenly yelled in an attempt to explain the situation, and Evie shot Uma an exasperated glare before continuing in the midst of Mal screaming even louder.

“My sister fell off the couch and she hit her head on the floor. She’s bleeding and she’s got a large lump on her head,” Evie explained, and Mal started to cry harder, freaked out over Evie’s explanation of what Mal herself couldn’t see.

“ _How old is she?_ ” the hospital lady asked, and Evie shook her head, trying to decipher how old she thought that Mal most likely was.

“She’s in the four to five bracket!” Uma quickly cried, practically beside herself in the midst of her panic.

“Four. She’s four,” Evie expressed, and the woman that had picked up sighed.

“ _How severe does it look?_ ” she questioned, some concern in her voice but not too much.

“She is flipping bleeding all over her forehead and there’s a lump on it that’s the size of East Riding!” Uma explained, and Evie just furrowed her brow at Uma, placing a finger on her lips as she tried to get the pirate to quiet down.

“I honestly have no idea,” Evie told her honestly, not sure what sort of measurement they were using for severity or the lack thereof.

“ _Okay, well, ma’am, you’re going to need to bring your sister to the emergency room. I really can’t help you any further_ ,” the woman explained shortly, and Evie nodded, before suddenly realized that the woman couldn’t see her.

“Yes, of course. I’ll be sure to bring her in,” Evie agreed, and she and the woman bade one another farewell before Evie hung up, looking down at Mal as she cried helplessly. Evie hugged Mal gently, stroking the back of Mal’s head as she tried to get her to calm down.

Evie looked at Uma as she paced, and Evie sighed deeply.

“It’s going to be okay, Mal. You are fine. There’s nothing to worry about at all,” Evie explained slowly and deliberately as she made sure that Mal--- and by extension, Uma--- heard her every word clearly.

Mal quieted a bit, nodding against Evie’s neck, but whimpering as the lump on her head touched Evie’s skin painfully. Evie pulled away from Mal a bit to kiss the undamaged side of her head.

“Okay, guys. Let’s go on a ride,” Evie spoke, having the feeling that it wouldn’t be a good idea to mention a hospital in front of Mal.

Uma nodded, still panicking a bit but seemingly calmer as Evie headed for her purse and grabbed her keys. Uma then led the way, opening the door for Mal and Evie.

Evie hauled her out and Uma led them to the Jeep. Uma opened up the door to the backseat, and Evie placed Mal in the backseat.

“Where are we going, Evie?” Mal asked in the midst of her sobs, clinging to Evie’s arms, and Uma looked back at Evie uncertainly.

“You want me to tell her?” Uma whispered, and Evie just shook her head carefully as she pulled her appendages from Mal’s grasp.

“No,” Evie replied just as quietly, and Uma shrugged, starting to shut the door to the backseat.

“Uma, ride back here with her. I’m going to drive,” Evie told the pirate, and Uma paused in her closing of the back door. Uma looked at Mal through Evie’s window and then back at Evie.

“I don’t think I wanna do that. What if she ups and dies on my lap?” Uma whispered furiously, and Evie just sighed slightly, squeezing Uma’s shoulder firmly and reassuringly.

“She’s not going to die,” Evie expressed wholeheartedly, and Uma eyed her skeptically for a moment more before she opened the door back up and got in the Jeep alongside Mal.

Evie wasted no time going around the front of the vehicle and getting into the car, cranking it and starting out the driveway.

Uma was quiet for a while, not saying a word as Mal sniffled and cried quietly. Uma looked over at the kid, not sure what to say to make Mal feel any better, and then she saw the lump on the girl’s head, which made Uma totally freak out all over again.

Mal finally looked back at Uma, tears in her eyes, and Uma swallowed hard as she tried to think of something useful to say.

“Well… Mal,” Uma trailed off and another wave of panic hit her as she realized Mal was still bleeding a bit from her head. Uma moved her mouth for a moment like a fish out of water before speaking.

“It’s been nice knowing you,” Uma told her, and Mal suddenly launched into another crying fit. Evie looked at the both of them in her rearview mirror, glaring at Uma before looking at Mal comfortingly.

“It’s okay, M, you’re going to be fine,” Evie reassured, reaching her hand back and touching Mal’s knee gently. Mal grabbed onto Evie’s arm, hugging it as she cried.

“We hope! If it’s brain damage, we’re screwed!” Uma added, unable to keep her mouth shut in the midst of her stressing over Mal’s purple bruise on her head.

“No. We _know_ you’re going to be fine,” Evie confidently spoke, much more self-assuredly than she was currently feeling. Mal calmed incrementally at those words, Evie keeping her hand back there with Mal as she drove down the road.

All was silent for a while longer before Uma spoke up again, her nerves causing her to talk more than usual.

“I guess the good part about it is, Mal, that if you get stuck in the hospital,” Evie immediately winced at Uma’s use of the h-word, “then me and Evie can still go and get the spell book and turn you back.”

“THE HOSPITAL?!!! THAT’S WHERE WE’RE GOING?!!!!” Mal screeched, and Evie chewed on her bottom lip a little, trying to reign in the feelings of immense irritation that she felt toward Uma right now.

“THEY’LL KILL ME!!! I’M GONNA DIE!!!” Mal yelled at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face in rivers, and Evie quickly slowed down and pulled over, stopping the car.

Uma looked at Evie questioningly, and Evie turned to gaze to Uma, mustering all of the patience that she could.

“Uma, come up here and drive while I fix this mess,” Evie somewhat accusingly spoke, and Uma eagerly nodded, willing to do anything to get away from the wailing and screaming child that she was so afraid was going to die or be fatally injured.

Uma got out of the car, and Evie brushed past her as they traded places. As soon as Evie had sat down in Uma’s place, Mal made a mad dash toward her, clinging on with all of her might in the midst of her fear. Evie wasted no time in reciprocating the embrace as Uma started to drive them to the hospital, picking up where Evie left off.

Evie put her arm around Mal and pulled the little girl into her lap. Evie kissed Mal’s head fondly, nestling her nose into Mal’s hair as she tried to make her calm down in the midst of her sniffling and wailing about how much her head hurt.

“It’s okay, Angel. You’re okay,” Evie soothed quietly, and Mal froze a bit at the nickname, sniffing hard before curling more fully into Evie.

Evie traced I-love-you’s on the girl’s back gently, knowing how much Mal liked for her to do that especially after a nightmare.

They continued on like this for a while longer before Uma suddenly pulled into the parking spot in front of the emergency area at the hospital. Evie sighed deeply, knowing this was going to be a real battle. Evie gathered Mal into her arms, noting that the girl had quieted down significantly.

Uma came over and opened Evie’s door, letting her out. Evie slipped down from the backseat, holding Mal to her chest as she headed for the hospital door with Uma with her nervous aura swiftly behind her.

Evie wasn’t sure whose reaction she was dreading more at this point. Mal was probably about to start screaming or something when she realized where they were. However, Uma was probably going to go through another wave of intense panic and insanity when they entered the hospital and had to talk to people about Mal’s injury.

So as Evie walked through the doors, she decided that all she could do was do the best she could with what she had. Which was only her endless reserve of patience and her love for her friends.

Evie strode over to the woman behind the counter, and she looked up at Evie with a pleasant smile.

“Welcome to Mufasa Memorial Hospital, how can we help you today?”

“THE HOSPITAL?!!! WE’RE AT THE HOSPITAL!!!” Mal immediately started screaming, and Evie sighed, closing her eyes before opening her mouth to speak.

“Look, woman, the kid fell off, bumped her head, and we couldn’t put Humpty-Dumpty back together!” Uma yelled over Mal’s screeching and Evie realized that, like Mal, Uma was going to react in the exact way that Evie feared.

“Ma’am, my younger sister fell off of the couch and hit her head on the floor-”

“She was bleeding out!!!” Uma cried, interrupting Evie, and the woman eyed Uma strangely as Evie just closed her eyes before reopening them and continuing.

“I WAS BLEEDING OUT!!!” Mal screamed, and Evie just stroked the back of the little girl’s head, pushing through the entire ordeal as she tried to explain to the woman what really happened.

“She was bleeding some on her head, and I think it’s healed up a little now-”

“It’s an emergency!!!” Uma interrupted yet again, almost as loud as Mal. The woman looked at Uma for a moment and leaned a bit closer to Evie.

“Do you need some medication to calm her down?” the woman asked with concern as she eyed the bluenette. Evie furrowed her brow, worried somewhat as she tried to get Mal to quiet down.

“Well, I don’t know about letting someone so small have very strong medication-”

“No, no, I meant your friend over there,” the woman pointed to Uma, and Uma spun around to face the lady, her eyes wide.

“Aw, heck, naw! You ain’t putting me on medication!”

“I just thought it might ease your anxiety a bit and put you at ease.”

“No, you know what that’s called?! That’s called stoned. And I am _not_ getting stoned!” Uma exclaimed, and Evie would have laughed if it had been under circumstances where Mal was an adult and unharmed.

“STONED?!!!” Mal cried out, and Evie shushed her quietly.

“Are you sure? We have medicines that can help you-”

“Lady, I am not getting hooked on pain medication, you dadgum kingpin!” Uma cried, pointing at the woman accusingly, and Evie reached out, grabbing Uma’s hand and trying to keep Mal balanced with the other one.

“Ma’am, my sister’s name is Mal and she’s four years old-”

“In the four to five bracket to be exact!” Uma called out, trying to be helpful, but Evie just spoke louder over the pirate.

“If you don’t mind, we’d like to have her looked at to make sure that she doesn’t have a concussion or anything that we need to be worried about,” Evie told the woman, and she nodded, logging in the information on her computer.

“Okay, we’ll call you back in just a little while,” she told her, and Evie sighed, heading over to a seat nearby to wait. Uma followed her over, but not before giving the woman a hand signal to communicate that the pirate was watching her.

Uma then sat down with Evie, nervous as could be, and Evie shook her head, not impressed with the pirate and her crazy theatrics. Mal was calmer now, but only because Evie had started humming lowly to her.

Once she was sure that Mal was not going to start screaming, Evie allowed herself to go into lecturing mode so she could properly fuss at Uma.

“Uma, I really wish that you’d calm down,” Evie told Uma, and the captain jumped a bit.

“I am perfectly calm! I am being precautious and informing people of the situation,” Uma insisted, and Evie strongly resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“You are anything but calm. You are like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs,” Evie told her, and Uma just scoffed at her.

“Well, your overly countrified metaphors don’t mean nothing,” Uma told Evie defiantly, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to reign in the jiggling of her leg.

“It’s actually a simile,” Evie informed her, chewing the inside of her cheek slightly as she just barely looked over at Uma. Uma turned her gaze to Evie’s slowly.

Uma just stared for several long moments, and surprising themselves, they both started laughing a bit about the entire situation. Evie’s grammatical correctness never failed.

“You are such a nerd,” Uma replied, an actual smile showing up on her face as she calmed down a bit.

It was only a few minutes before a woman was calling them back. Evie sighed deeply, fully prepared for Mal to start screaming again.

To Evie’s surprise, the tiny faerie didn’t start to scream. However, she did begin crying all over again. Evie just squeezed Mal so that she was secure in Evie’s embrace.

The woman showed them to the emergency room that they would be staying in, and Uma sat down in a nearby chair while Evie sat on the hospital bed, cradling Mal and rocking her ever so slightly.

“Evie, I don’t want them to hurt me. They’re going to touch it, Evie, I just know it!” Mal cried, and Evie just shook her head.

“No, they’re not going to hurt you. They’re not. They might wipe it a bit and cleanse it, but they’re not going to hurt you,” Evie reassured, looking over at Uma who appeared significantly more somber and had a bit of her panic still there.

“Evie, don’t let them hurt me,” Mal sobbed, and Evie could feel her heart breaking with Mal’s every word. Evie crossed her legs underneath Mal so that she could better encircle the small girl in her arms and with her body.

“I promise that I won’t let anything or anybody hurt you. It might be uncomfortable, but I promise I won’t let them actually hurt you,” Evie expressed reassuringly, and Mal just nodded slightly, listening to Evie’s every word.

Uma was deathly quiet, and Evie looked over to her once again. Uma met her eyes and Evie just smiled at her softly and comfortingly.

It was then that the doctor entered the room, her white coat swishing behind her. Mal looked over in the woman’s direction and she started to cry once again, hiding her face in Evie’s chest the best that she could.

“Hello, there. I’m Doctor Andersen. But you can call me Riley,” the girl told them, an awkward and sweet smile on her face as she looked at the two of them.

“Hi, I’m Evie. This is Mal, and that one over there is Uma,” Evie introduced, and Riley just grinned cheerfully. Uma simply saluted, not saying a word.

Evie couldn’t help but wonder if her newfound silence was because of the threat of the medication they were going to give her if she kept acting so crazy.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. So, what’s wrong with our little patient?” Riley asked, and she started toward Mal. However, as soon as she got close, Mal started to cry even harder and began to try to frantically escape.

“Mal, calm down, okay? You’re okay,” Evie assured her, and Riley stepped back a bit before sliding off her coat. Evie tilted her head slightly, looking at her somewhat puzzledly.

“Oh, it sometimes helps if I get rid of the white coat,” Riley explained with a chuckle before withdrawing her otoscope and approaching them once again.

“Can you turn her around for me?” Riley questioned, and Evie complied, grabbing Mal’s arms and body gently as she started to get her in the proper position.

Mal’s eyes went wide with fear at the sight of the otoscope, and Mal started trying to scramble away. However, Evie held her firmly in place.

“C’mon, Mal, you’ve got to let the doctor look at you,” Evie informed her carefully, and Mal furrowed her brow, the tears spilling down her cheeks in rivers. Riley just offered Mal a comforting smile.

“Hey, pretty girl. You know what this is?” Riley asked, holding out the otoscope on its side so Mal could see. Mal looked at Riley somewhat distrustfully as she sniffled, and then she looked back up at Evie questioningly. Evie nodded a bit, trying to reassure Mal.

“No… It’s a doctor thingamajig,” Mal informed her tensely, that signature sass shining through, and Riley just laughed at the girl.

“It’s an otoscope. It helps me see inside of your ears and your nose. It also helps me to look at your eyes,” Riley explained carefully with an easygoing grin, and Mal relaxed just a little against Evie as she watched Riley.

“Now, look at this,” Riley instructed, and Mal watched as a little light on the otoscope turned on.

“All I’m going to do is shine the light in your eye to make sure your eyes are looking the way they should. I’m checking a little thing called dilation,” Riley told her before very slowly lifting the otoscope. Mal jerked a bit as she shined it in her eye, but Evie’s steady and gentle hand on her cheek made her feel a little better.

Riley finally got through looking in her eye and she nodded resolutely before just examining the lump without touching it. She then nodded yet again before stepping back.

“Well, don’t worry about it. Your sister is perfectly fine. The lump is not indented, and her eyes are dilating as they should,” Riley informed them, and Evie and Uma both sunk down in their seats in pure relief. Mal leaned back against Evie, fisting the fabric of Evie’s shirt in her hands.

Riley then withdrew a cotton ball and some disinfectant.

“Mal, this might sting a bit. But don’t worry. It’ll all be over really fast, and if you be a super big girl, I’ve got a special sucker just for you,” Riley told her, and Mal looked up at Evie worriedly. Evie just nodded, stroking the center of Mal’s forehead to the side of the lump.

“It’s okay, you can do it,” Evie comforted, and Mal returned her gaze to Riley. Riley very gently covered her cotton ball in disinfectant, and she then carefully dabbed at the place on Mal’s head.

Mal immediately reached up and tried to grab Riley’s hands to keep her from continuing, the small girl crying once again. Evie wasted no time in taking Mal’s wrists in her hands, holding them firmly.

“Mal, let the doctor fix you up,” Evie kept telling Mal over and over, repeating the mantra as she tried to get it through to the faerie.

“What?! And stay still for torture?!” Mal exclaimed, her feelings of pain getting the better of her. Uma exhaled out of her nose, not pleased with how the woman was making Mal cry but almost wanting to laugh at Mal’s sass in this situation.

After a few moments, Riley finally finished, pulling away from her patient with a big smile. Mal glanced up at her tearfully, and Evie kissed the side of her head firmly and lovingly, communicating just how proud she was of her best friend for not totally freaking out.

“And, as promised, here’s your sucker. It’s all done, kiddo,” Riley informed her cheerfully as she pulled the candy out of her pocket and handed it to Mal. Mal furrowed her brow, attempting to pull open the wrapper.

“Might wanna let big sis open it,” Riley winked at Mal, and Evie sighed deeply as she unwrapped the sucker, very pleased that they were finally going to get out of there. Best of all, Mal was okay.

“So she’s all okay?” Uma asked, making sure that she could relax now.

“Yeah. She’s all good,” Riley told Uma, her hand on the doorknob.

“Oh, thank goodness. I thought she was going to die from brain damage or from her bleeding out. Dang… what a relief,” Uma laughed joyfully, and Riley just raised an eyebrow at the pirate as Uma sunk down in the chair happily before getting up with Evie.

Evie, with Mal on her hip, reached out to the woman to shake her hand.

“Thank you so, so much. You have no idea what a huge relief it is to know she’s okay,” Evie expressed, and Riley just shook her head.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s my pleasure. All I recommend for you guys is to make sure she gets a nap in a little while so it’ll heal faster and better,” Riley explained, and Evie smiled, thinking of how nice a nap would be.

“Yes, ma’am, we’ll do that as soon as we get home,” Evie nodded to her, and Riley opened the door to let them out. Evie headed out first with Mal, and Uma followed them.

However, when Uma was at the door, she stopped in front of Riley and leaned near her.

“Oh, and you definitely didn’t hear it from me, but you’ve got a kingpin up there trying to sell me some drugs.”

Evie chose that moment to drag Uma out of the hospital.


	9. Mission Impossible

Uma awoke with a start and she looked around the room, realizing that it was dark outside as she got her bearings. Uma furrowed her brow, wiping her eyes as she took her phone from the end table at the side of Evie’s couch.

The three of the girls had indeed napped after they got home at around six forty-five. However, they hadn’t planned to sleep until ten o’clock, as Uma was just now observing on her phone’s screen. Uma turned to the side, stretching her legs out as she tried to regain feeling in her left one. Uma had been uncomfortably cramped in the midst of Evie’s legs since the bluenette had curled up with Mal on the other side of the couch.

Uma stretched her arms, cracking her back in the process, and she put a hand on Evie’s leg, squeezing and shaking it a bit.

“Hey, Blue. C’mon. You gotta get up. It’s ten, and the museum’s officially closed,” Uma spoke, and Evie immediately stirred, waking up quickly.

Evie sat up, Mal still laying there on the couch where she had been curled against Evie. Evie blinked a few times as she looked at Uma. She then nodded her head.

“Okay,” Evie yawned, her voice deeper than normal with the leftover influences of sleep.

Evie then proceeded to wake up Mal.

“Mal, let’s go. We’re going to get you transformed back to an adult,” Evie explained, and Mal barely stirred. Evie tried several more times before deciding that she would simply carry Mal until the faerie woke up a bit more. Uma raised an eyebrow in surprise at the kid and her heavy sleeping that she was doing.

“Man. She’s sleeping good,” Uma commented with a slight grin as she winced a bit, trying to get her back to pop. Evie furrowed her brow, tilting her head slightly, and she eyed Uma sympathetically.

“The couch wasn’t very comfortable, was it?” Evie asked regretfully, and Uma just shook her head, dismissing Evie’s concern with a wave of her hand. She didn’t want Evie to feel bad about the sofa.

“Nah, I’ll live. I’ve slept on worse,” Uma explained nonchalantly, and Evie nodded carefully, still feeling a bit guilty about the entire thing but ultimately deciding to let it go in favor of agreeing with Uma.

“Yeah, that makes two of us,” Evie told her, and Uma just chuckled with a raise of her eyebrows as she stood up carefully, twisting her arms around as she finally got her back to crack in the perfect place.

“Aw, yeah, baby. That feels better,” Uma expressed with a sigh of content. Uma then offered Evie a hand and when Evie took it, the pirate pulled the bluenette onto her feet.

Evie strode over to the bar in her kitchen and she picked up her keys and her purse, uncomfortably reminding Uma of what had happened the past few hours. Then, with a resolute nod, Evie headed out the door to Charlene with Uma behind her.

“E? Why’s it dark?” Mal questioned groggily as they strode across the patio, her small voice suddenly sounding off nearby Evie’s ear. Evie smiled, glad that Mal was awake finally.

“It’s nighttime, and we’re going to the museum to get you back to normal,” Evie explained, and with those words, Mal was suddenly much more wakeful and aware. Mal sat up a bit more in Evie’s hold, and she looked around as Evie approached the Jeep.

Evie sat Mal in the backseat and buckled her up quickly before going around and getting in the driver’s seat. Uma had already buckled up in the passenger seat, and she was just staring at Evie as she got in.

Evie looked at Uma strangely in return, wondering what was on the pirate’s mind.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just that it’s funny that you all of a sudden decided she was big enough to ride in the backseat,” Uma pointed out, and Evie just shrugged as she put the key in the ignition and started the car.

“Well, we can walk if you feel like it. I just thought that you might like to-”

“No, no, I’m good, thank you,” Uma simply replied, interrupting Evie quickly. Evie just nodded slightly and started down the driveway in her Jeep.

They were all quiet for a little while as Evie turned out onto the road and started toward the museum.

“Okay, so what’s our plan?” Uma questioned finally, and Evie furrowed her brow, trying to think of what they should do.

“Well, duh. Sneak in, grab the book, and turn me back. Easy peasy,” Mal informed them, and Uma raised an eyebrow, looking back at the little kid.

“Some apples don’t fall far from the tree,” Uma murmured to herself, looking back to the road. Evie shot her a warning glance, knowing that Mal was not going to react well to her comment. After all, she was currently a toddler that just woke up from her nap. That was not particularly a recipe for success.

“What does that mean?!” Mal demanded, and Uma just smirked.

“Nothing, it’s just that you sound a lot like your mama,” Uma expressed, and Mal narrowed her eyes as they glowed that astounding shade of green.

“Now, girls, let’s calm down a bit. Mal’s plan is technically not incorrect. It’s missing a few primary details, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out when we get there,” Evie attempted to diffuse. Evie knew that Mal loathed more than anything to be compared to her mother, and she knew that at this age that Mal might be much more explosive about the assessment.

Uma just shrugged, deciding to keep her mouth shut at least for a moment. After all, she didn’t want any fits to be thrown. After a few moments, Mal seemed to get control of her overwhelming feelings of irritation toward Uma, and she sighed, turning to look out the window.

Mal furrowed her brow, trying to raise up a bit so she could see better out of the car door. She kept trying this, and after a moment, she huffed in irritation.

“Evie?! I can’t see out the window!” Mal cried, and Evie looked back at her through her rearview mirror.

“Don’t worry, M. You’ll be back in your new form in no time.”

“Yeah, you’re right. And then I can be up riding shotgun in my proper place with the wind blowing through my hair,” Mal expressed with a satisfied smile, still trying to look out the window but not quite as worried about it as she was before.

Uma’s face suddenly lit up in an evil grin as she subtly reached over for the buttons that controlled the windows. Before Evie or Mal could notice, Uma rolled down Mal’s window, and the wind quickly started blowing in the toddler’s face.

“UMA!!! SHUT THE WINDOW!!!” Mal cried loudly, the wind tousling her hair almost violently, and Uma cackled before Evie suddenly clicked the button to roll it back up and clicked the window lock button on her control panel.

Uma gaped at Evie offendedly, trying to understand why the bluenette had to go and ruin her fun, and Evie just shot her a reprimanding glance. Uma rolled her eyes and turned to look at Mal.

“So, was that wind blowing through your hair all nice like you wanted?” Uma inquired wickedly, and Mal just gazed at Uma with as much venom as she could possibly muster.

“You are absol-absotute-abso- ARGH!!! Really mean!!!” Mal screeched, and Evie just sighed as Mal went off on a tirade, stumbling over the larger words that she wanted to say but her toddler speech wouldn’t allow for. Uma just laughed at the kid as she fully enjoyed Mal’s irritation.

After several minutes that felt more like hours to Evie, they finally arrived at the museum.

Evie made sure to park the car on the other side of the road at another business that was closed for the night so that no one would be suspicious as a result of seeing a car parked at the dark building.

The three of them were quiet as they eyed the museum carefully. Mal thankfully stopped fussing when the building was in sight, which Evie was eternally thankful for. Mal slowly unbuckled her seatbelt, standing up in the floorboard behind Evie as she leaned up to look at the museum with the other two girls.

Evie simply couldn’t stop thinking about the last time she had came to the museum after hours with the intent to break in. That had been when Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos were planning to take Fairy Godmother’s wand. If Evie was honest with herself, the idea of repeating the experience--- at least the breaking in at night part--- was quite haunting.

The bluenette was disturbed from her reverie upon feeling Mal’s much too small hand on her shoulder. Evie shook her head a bit before looking over at the faerie just beside her.

Mal had a sweet, reassuring smile on her face, and inevitably, Evie felt much better than she did before.

“You guys ready to go?” Evie asked, and Mal nodded wholeheartedly. Uma agreed resolutely, and they all got out of the Jeep, Evie slinging her purse over her shoulder before opening the car door for Mal.

She helped her down from the backseat and put her down on the ground. Uma then led the way carefully across the road with Evie and Mal hand in hand after her. They quickly reached the side of the great museum, and Uma snuck along the edges of the wall. Evie followed her swiftly, before Uma suddenly stopped and put out a hand behind her to stop the girl in her tracks.

“There’s a video camera,” Uma pointed out, and Mal groaned loudly.

“Ugh! Why did I have to get those installed?!” Mal whined, and Evie sighed, pursing her lips as she tried to think of an idea.

“How high up is it, Uma?” Evie asked, and Uma furrowed her brow as she just barely peeked around the edge of the wall.

“Too high for either one of us to reach, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Is it too high for a boost?” Evie questioned, and Uma shook her head.

“No. It would only need a little boost for us to reach it and knock it off,” Uma told her, and Evie nodded. However, Mal quickly interrupted them, her eyes wide.

“We can’t do that! I had them specially designed so that they’d set off an alarm if they were broken,” Mal told them, and Uma growled underneath her breath before looking at Evie expectantly.

“Do you have anything to cloud up its vision? Maybe a cloth or something? Or will that set off an alarm, too?” Uma sarcastically asked Mal, and the purple-haired girl just stuck her tongue out at the pirate. Evie looked through her purse as she tried to find something that would help.

“Hmm… No cloths… But I do have red lipstick!” Evie announced proudly, withdrawing a lipstick container from her purse. Uma offered her a thumbs-up as she looked at the camera once again.

“Alright. This thing’s working on a cycle of turns, spending about ten to fifteen seconds in one area. We’re going to have to time this perfectly. You gonna give me a boost?” Uma asked Evie, and Evie shook her head.

“I don’t think I can lift you,” Evie expressed, and Uma looked the girl up and down before shaking her head skeptically.

“I don’t think so.”

“I know my limitations, Uma.”

“But you’re bigger than me.”

“But you’re stockier than me,” Evie pointed out.

“Y’know, I halfway resent that,” Uma told the other girl, but ultimately decided to let it go as she rolled her eyes before examining the camera resignedly to check its position.

“Okay, Blue, I’m gonna go over there and you’re going to step onto my hand so I can lift you up,” Uma told the bluenette, watching the camera carefully from the very edge of the wall so it wouldn’t catch sight of her.

After only a moment, it turned back to face the other direction.

“Let’s go!” Uma whispered loudly, and she hurried nearby the camera. Evie followed her quickly, her lipstick in hand. Uma held out her locked-together hands, and Evie took hold of the pirate’s shoulder before stepping on her foothold. Uma then lifted up, squinting hard and furrowing her brow as she tried to hold up Evie.

Evie placed her hand on the stone brick of the wall and reached around the camera, starting to scrawl the red lipstick all over the lenses so that it couldn’t pick up anything.

After several moments, Uma started to breathe a bit laboriously.

“Whoo, you gettin’ done?”

“I’m trying!” Evie replied nervously, moving even faster with her painting of the camera. Uma groaned deeply under her breath.

“You know, you sure didn’t make this place user-friendly for breaking into,” Uma quipped, her voice strained as she shot a glare in Mal’s direction.

Mal just folded her arms over her chest in response, unimpressed with Uma’s undying sass.

“That’s kind of the point, Shrimpy,” Mal commented, and Uma narrowed her eyes in irritation.

“Okay… And done!” Evie announced just before the camera started to rotate once again. Evie leaned back from it quickly, nearly losing her balance, and Uma pulled her hand down quickly yet steadily so Evie could get down. Evie stepped off swiftly, stumbling back and almost falling on her behind, but Uma caught her just before she could land on the concrete.

Evie flashed her an appreciative grin, and Uma just shook her head, breathing deeply as they continued around the edge of the museum.

“Hey… Here’s a door,” Uma pointed out as they reached the back door to the museum. Mal just nodded and Evie grinned widely but looked over her shoulder frequently, pleased with their progress but cautious nevertheless. Uma wasted no time in reaching for the doorknob, and she frowned upon realizing it was locked.

“Well, dang it! I thought Auradon wasn’t the kind of place that locked their doors at night. Oh, well. I guess I can just knock it down,” Uma commented with a shrug, stepping back from the door, and Mal quickly spoke up.

“No, no, no! You can’t do that! Forcing the doors open will set off the alarm, too!” Mal explained, and Uma just looked at Mal as if she had lost her mind.

“Is there nothing here that doesn’t set off the alarms?” Uma questioned in pure exasperation, and Evie just shook her head as she moved in front of Uma.

“Let’s do this thing,” Evie spoke quietly as she withdrew a bobby pin from her purse. She then stuck it into the keyhole, working it around as she tried to open the door. Uma raised an eyebrow.

“Do you have everything in your purse?”

“Do you have to keep asking these kinds of questions?” Mal mimicked, full of snark, and Uma started to say something in response before the door suddenly opened. Evie stood up and offered them a big smile, very much proud of herself.

“Nice,” Uma complimented quickly before hurrying through the door speedily and mostly silently. As Mal headed past, she patted Evie’s leg fondly.

“Awesome job, E. I knew I could count on you,” Mal expressed fondly, and Evie puffed up considerably with the praise before entering the museum, shutting the door, and taking Mal’s hand as she followed Uma.

Uma was stopped at another corner when they finally reached her, and Evie stopped behind her prematurely this time, making sure that she didn’t nearly run into the pirate like last time.

“There’s the security guard up ahead. He’s patrolling,” Uma told Mal quietly, and Mal growled in frustration.

“What are we going to do?” Mal questioned frustratedly in hushed tones, and Uma couldn’t resist looking back to Evie.

“Got something in your bag to help us now?” Uma sarcastically asked Evie in a whisper, and Evie shook her head, not having any clue of what to do in this situation.

Uma then pursed her lips, sizing up the man before cracking her neck.

“Okay… Y’all hang back here,” Uma told them, and Mal and Evie shared an odd glance, not sure what Uma was going to do.

Uma crept out from her hiding place, following the man soundlessly, and it soon occurred to the other two girls precisely what Uma was planning to do.

But before they could do anything about it, Uma whacked the back of the man’s head as hard as she could and he fell to the ground with a thud, completely knocked out. Uma nodded to herself, satisfied with her work as she dusted her hands off and turned back to Mal and Evie who were hurrying over to her.

Mal raised an eyebrow as she looked down at the man passed out on the floor.

“Nice technique.”

“Thanks,” Uma replied, and Evie just gaped at the man, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

“Uma, I cannot believe you did that!” Evie cried, and Uma just shrugged with a grin.

“Well, like you said, I’m stocky and I guess it’s got its benefits,” Uma told Evie, and Evie just gaped at Uma.

“You just knocked this poor man out! That’s against the law!”

“Nope. Pretty sure it comes under self-defense,” Uma told Evie, and Evie shook her head as she kneeled down and turned the security guard over.

“It’s not self-defense if he wasn’t attacking.”

“Call it a preventative measure,” Uma told her with one of those winningly wicked smiles. Evie sighed, deciding she was going to have to leave the man there, and she got up from her place on the ground.

“Let’s just get the spell book and get out of here,” Evie spoke, and Uma nodded as Mal took Evie’s hand once again.

Evie headed for the area that she knew the spell book to be in, and before long, they saw it. The holy grail of forbidden magic sitting there upon its pedestal behind glass. It was nearby Evie’s magic mirror, and Evie couldn’t help but allow herself a moment to admire her old artifact that she had grown quite fond of and hadn’t seen in so long.

“C’mon, Uma, let’s break it open!” Mal cried excitedly, and the pirate captain hurried after her, grabbing the spear of a nearby suit of armor as she prepped herself to break open the glass.

“Don’t worry, Uma, I’ll just cast a spell on it to clean up the mess!” Mal explained, full of enthusiasm as she eyed her one chance at turning back to an adult.

Evie furrowed her brow as all of those meetings she had attended with Mal reentered her mind. Until now, she had been much too stressed to remember all of the safety precautions enacted at the museum, but now that she could think more clearly, they were all coming back to her.

And just as Uma raised her spear to bring it down upon the glass, Evie remembered one vital security decision that she, Ben, and Mal had made.

“No! Don’t smash it, Uma! It’ll set off the alarm---”

And that was when the glass case shattered, and the horrendous noise started.

Mal immediately covered her ears, almost in pain as a result of the deafening noise. Uma furrowed her brow, wincing hard as she looked around the room, dropping the spear onto the tile of the museum. Evie brought her hands up to her ears as she tried to block the noise out of her ears.

“Dang, that’s loud!!!” Uma yelled, trying to be heard over the noise of the alarm. Evie nodded her head, and she glanced about, trying to regain her wits about her.

It quickly came to Evie that there were ways to turn off the alarms all around the museum, provided that one possessed a key and knowledge of what needed to be selected.

Evie quickly spotted a control panel nearby on the wall, and she hurried over to it, scrambling for her keys as she tapped away at the buttons. Evie then received the cue to insert the key and she complied quickly, turning it, and the alarms swiftly went off.

Mal slowly removed her hands from her ears, and Uma looked at Evie, surprised as she eyed the bluenette.

“How did you know to do that?”

“I helped Mal design all of the security precautions at the museum,” Evie explained, and Uma’s gaze suddenly hardened as she stared at Evie.

“You mean to tell me that you knew how this museum worked and what set off the alarms the whole time and you didn’t think it necessary to explain it to me?” Uma questioned, irritation evident in her voice, and Evie flashed her a guilty grin.

“I’m sorry! I was nervous! And I don’t do well with extreme pressure like this!” Evie defended herself, feeling bad about not telling Uma but also trying to explain her position and reasons. Uma just groaned, and Mal ignored both of them in favor of climbing up onto the pedestal and grabbing her old spell book.

“Maybe nobody heard the alarm,” Evie hopefully pointed out, and Uma just laughed humorlessly.

“Half the kingdom would have to be deaf in one ear and can’t hear out the other one, but I certainly hope no one heard the alarm,” Uma told the bluenette sarcastically.

“C’mon, guys, help me look!” Mal cried, and Evie and Uma hurried over to help Mal flip through the pages.

However, their greatest fears were about to come true, despite their best wishes to the contrary.

About twenty-five minutes away from the museum, Audrey was sleeping at her home, blissfully unaware of all of the pandemonium unfolding and that had unfolded already.

But this was all about to change once Audrey happened to hear her phone making all sorts of insane noises as she woke up from what was miraculously not a deep sleep this time. She groaned as she rolled over in bed to face the nightstand with her phone on it. Audrey reached out slowly and wrapped her fingers around it as she blearily gazed at the screen, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to focus.

There was a text on her phone, and after she clicked through it, she realized it was from Jay. Audrey opened the messaging platform as she tried to see what he had sent her.

She didn’t know why he would have sent something to her now. Especially since he knew she went to bed before then. They had sent their goodnight texts and everything. All she could hope was that he was not on another one of those binges where he sent her every meme that he had apparently found funny at some point during his life on the internet.

“ _R u up?_ ” She rolled her eyes, figuring he was leading her up to one of those memes.

“ _I am now. Why?_ ” she replied, and after only a moment, she could see that he was texting back. Audrey sighed, really hoping that whatever he was getting her up for was actually worth it.

“ _Did u break in2 museum?_ ” he asked, and Audrey found herself immediately and startlingly awake. Her first instinct was immense worry. Who had broken or would break into the museum? It was frightening, and much against her will, she couldn’t help but just barely wonder if some new VK fresh from the Isle had turned bad as had been discussed in the court room since the great decision to let down the barrier.

However, Audrey’s second instinct was not nearly as understanding. Her second instinct was pure, red hot anger at the mere insinuation that she had went evil again and would turn on all of them. And naturally, this was the instinct that tended to stay with her and override any empathetic thoughts that she could have even remotely possessed.

Fingers flying, she typed a response swiftly.

“ _NO I DID NOT!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU JUST ACCUSED ME OF THAT!!!!_ ” Audrey was fuming at this point, positively furious that Jay had made such an assumption.

“ _WHY WOULD YOU EVEN_ _ASK ME THAT?_ ” Audrey added, making sure she used all-caps to emphasize just how livid she was at this moment.

“ _Alarm went off at museum. Going 2 see who it is rn with guys_ ,” Jay replied. Audrey growled under her breath as she slung the covers off of her and hauled herself out of bed, her phone being her only light in the pitch black of her room. Audrey turned on her flashlight, pulling on her sneakers as she got ready.

She was going to the museum.


	10. Discovered

“Hurry, you guys! Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!” Mal rushed as Mal and Uma searched through the spell book as fast as they could.

“You could help a little!” Uma told her in a harsh whisper, and Mal just rolled her eyes.

“Well, I told you exactly what section it was in,” Mal replied, and Uma just growled as she searched through the section that Mal had given them.

“It ain’t in this part of the book, I’m telling you!” Uma told the faerie, and Evie shook her head as she looked through the book swiftly, scanning through the pages as quickly as Uma was.

“Mal, are there any other sections it could fall under?” Evie demanded nervously, knowing that people had to have heard the alarm earlier.

“Well, I don’t know. Turn it to the table of contents and let me look,” Mal instructed, stepping up on the pedestal so that she was standing behind the kneeling forms of Uma and Evie.

“I’m thinking either trans… transform… transformation spells or the age spells I just sent you to,” Mal told the girls, and Evie swiftly turned to the transformation spells.

Uma read as fast as she could, and Evie scanned the length of the other page. Evie winced as she spotted a particular spell that was awfully familiar and involved four legs and a tail. Immediately, she was reminded of her Labrador form that she had suffered so much as a result of.

However, before she could even comment on this or share her terrible memories, a familiar accented voice suddenly sounded nearby.

“Well, well, well, what do we ‘ave ‘ere?”

Mal, Evie, and Uma jumped in shock, surprised at the sudden voice and even more upset when they saw exactly who it was that had interrupted their work in finding the spell that would solve all of their problems.

There not too far from them were Harry, Gil, Jay, Carlos, Jane, and Ben in their pajamas, almost all of them staring at the three girls in total shock. Except for Gil and Harry. Gil was pleasantly unaware of what was so strange about this situation, and Harry was the only one that seemed perfectly comfortable with and actually even interested in it. The rest of the group were just staring in complete disbelief.

“What are you guys doing with a kid?” Ben finally asked, and Evie, Mal, and Uma snapped out of their silent gaping at the group that had just entered the room. Evie furrowed her brow, deciding she’d answer.

“Oh… Well, that’s a funny story,” Evie trailed off, looking really quite perplexed as she tried to think of a good explanation for this. However, after only a moment, she got a huge, sly grin on her face and continued with an explanation.

“And it’s because we’re-”

“If you say on our period, I’m going to strangle you,” Uma interrupted Evie, glaring at Evie in frustration, and Evie simply quieted down, biting her bottom lip a bit as she tried to think of some other explanation.

Jay and Carlos shared a glance, and Carlos suddenly narrowed his eyes as he looked at Mal who was desperately attempting to hide her face.

“Hey, wait a minute. I know you!” Carlos announced, pointing at Mal. Mal froze, offering the boy a huge guilty smile.

“Where’s your mom?! And why do you have a lump on your head!” Carlos demanded, looking all around, and Uma facepalmed, unable to believe the boy’s cluelessness. Evie just took this as a good sign, and she was looking expectantly at Mal, waiting for the girl to weave another of her infamously great lies that she was so skilled at forging.

However, to her complete and utter surprise, Mal actually confessed to what was going on.

“Carlos, it’s me, Mal,” Mal expressed, and Carlos gaped at the girl, in totally shock as he took that fact in. Jay furrowed his brow as he stepped forward, inspecting Mal with a raise of his eyebrow as if he didn’t truly believe it.

Mal made her eyes glow that infamous green as a simple response, and Jay nodded his head resolutely.

“Yep. It’s Mal,” Jay pointed out, agreeing easily, and Carlos was still simply mind-blown.

“So this was never even--- you were never even lost?” Carlos questioned, looking at Jane in surprise. Mal shook her head in simple answer.

“Well, I was lost until you brought me back to the Whack-A-Mole stand where they were playing the game to win some prizes,” Mal told him, and everyone’s eyes fell upon Uma and Evie in pure surprise, but mostly upon Uma. They really hadn’t registered fully that Evie had helped in this scandal.

“What the--- Uma?! You were in on it?!” Carlos helplessly cried.

“Yeah.”

“So all of that stuff you told me was a big lie?” Carlos asked Uma pointedly. Uma just narrowed her eyes to look at the boy with irritation.

“You weren’t with Harry and Gil? And there was no corn dog stand?!” Carlos continued, demanding answers at this point. Harry just stepped up, raising an eyebrow with a slight smirk as he eyed the de Vil boy and stroked his ever-present hook.

“Nay. She wasn’t with me or Gil all day,” Harry told him simply, and Carlos was reveling in this newfound information, baffled.

“T’was a skillful lil’ scheme but,” Harry trailed off before swaggering over near his captain with a pouty lip.

“Ye didn’t even tell me ‘bout this? I’m yer first mate… Yer supposed ta lie to e’eryone but me,” Harry expressed sadly, and Uma just rolled her eyes, finally getting fed up with almost all of the blame being placed on her for some reason or another.

“Yes, but don’t think this whole thing was my fault. It was equally that one’s,” Uma poked Evie’s shoulder, and everyone was immensely surprised at that fact as they turned their attentions to Evie. Evie offered them a small wave and a smile, but it quickly died down as she realized no one was in a good humor.

“Evie… You lied?” Jane questioned, totally surprised as she gaped at the bluenette. Evie solemnly nodded, and there was a collective gasp.

“Yes.”

There was a sudden silence that was terribly awkward. No one knew what to say to the fact that Evie, the queen of morality and goodness, had actually told a lie. Granted, it wasn’t a very large or important one--- after all, no one was in danger or going to die--- but it was still surprising.

“Why would you lie to us?” Jay finally asked, his brow furrowed somewhat sternly as he regarded his sister.

“We’re your brothers,” Carlos told her softly, looking terribly offended. Evie shrunk a bit before the two of them, looking down at her hands shamefully. Uma watched the bluenette compassionately, knowing that Evie was only trying to help Mal and keep her from being humiliated in front of the boys. For her part, Mal just shook her head, not willing to allow Evie to take all of the blame.

“Guys, I asked Evie to do it,” Mal piped up, placing a hand on Evie’s knee, and everyone couldn’t help but stare at Mal for just a moment in mild horror. It was easy to forget the fact that one of their friends was currently a child.

Carlos finally shook his head, and he returned his gaze to Evie.

“And you gave in?”

“Yes, Snowflake, but in my defense, she has these adorable chubby chipmunk cheeks and a cutesy pouty lip and big soulful eyes that just demand that you do anything for her,” Evie explained pointing to each of the features on Mal in turn.

“So what’s your excuse for being such a pushover when she’s an adult?” Jay asked, and Evie just shrugged as she hugged Mal near her.

“Well, I didn’t say that she didn’t have them when she was older. She just grows into them a little more,” Evie explained, and Jay as well as Carlos rolled their eyes in response to her.

“So how did this happen?” Ben finally questioned, very worried about what sort of sorcery had originated this latest bout of magical mishap.

“Oh, well, I was sleepwalking and sleep-eating baby carrots when I apparently,” Mal paused, trying to articulate the word properly, “said a changing spell for turning into a baby because of some memory triggered that I didn’t even know I had.”

Ben just blinked, and Harry from Uma’s side was just completely bumfuzzled as he raised an eyebrow at the small faerie in surprise. Jane and Carlos had wide eyes, mirroring one another, and Jay was just standing there, his arms crossed over his chest as he considered the entire situation.

Ben shook his head, honestly not knowing what to think about this development.

“This wasn’t Uma’s scheme, Evie’s lying, and I have a five-year-old wife?! What is going on here?!” Ben desperately questioned, completely flipping out at this point as the insanity of it all fully set in on him.

“Technically, it’s the four to five bracket,” Uma interjected her opinion, and Evie nodded.

“I went with four,” Evie said, shrugging a bit. Ben just gaped at them both in horror.

“That’s worse!” Ben cried, and had it been different circumstances, Evie likely would have laughed.

“What?! Evie lied?! Huh… So, Evie lied,” Gil trailed off, thinking hard about this, and Uma and Harry shared a skeptical glance, wondering where the boy was going with this but honestly a little scared where he’d end up. After only a few moments, Gil’s face lit up with a huge grin.

“Harry, we should think of a nickname for Evie! You know, kind of like Shrimpy for Uma!” Gil pointed out with a laugh, and Harry winced a bit before looking down at Uma just barely.

Uma’s eyes were narrowed and her lips were slightly curled in that infamous snarl. Harry just glared at Gil alongside his captain.

“Gil, are you hungry?” Uma questioned suddenly, and Gil froze.

“Wait a minute! I know this question! I’ve been asked before! But what was the answer…”

Uma just groaned, unable to truly believe how dumb Gil could be sometimes.

“Oh, it’s yes!” Gil suddenly exclaimed in his excitement, offering Jay a high-five. Jay just shook his head at the boy slowly.

At this point, Uma didn’t even have the heart to ask him. However, Harry wasn’t going to pass it up.

“Do ye want a knuckle sandwich?” Harry questioned, and Gil quickly realized exactly why he should have said no. Harry started to stride over to Gil when a horrible sound suddenly was set loose throughout the entire room.

“JAY I-DON’T-HAVE-THE-FIRST-CLUE-WHAT-YOUR-MIDDLE-AND-LAST-NAMES ARE, I HAVE SOMETHING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT!!!” Audrey’s voice suddenly screeched, and Carlos looked at Jay questioningly.

“What did you do?” Carlos asked, and Jay shook his head.

“I didn’t do anything!” Jay replied defensively. Jay sighed deeply, not knowing what he had done but fully certain that he was about to find out. Jay turned to face his girlfriend, an innocent smile on his face as he tried to at least throw her off a little.

She was currently clad in horrendously pink pajamas and red sneakers that were clashing quite terribly with her outfit. Her hair was somewhat tousled, and she was not wearing any makeup on her face. Jay still thought she looked amazing, even if she was frazzled and ruffled about something.

“Hey, babe, what brings you here?” Jay nonchalantly questioned with that signature smirk.

“What brings me here--- Jay! You implied that I was here at this blasted museum stealing something!!!” Audrey exclaimed, and everyone just winced and looked at Jay somewhat accusatorily, knowing that was a definite topic to be avoided with the princess.

“Oh, dude… Yeah, you did something,” Carlos pointed out simply, and Jay just kept his focus on Audrey.

“Why would you say something like that to me?! You are absolutely incorrigible! Do you know how that made me feel---” Audrey immediately paused, the thought suddenly occurring to her that something was not right. Audrey turned slowly to look at the scene that everyone except her and Jay was facing.

Audrey’s eyes went ridiculously wide at the sight of Uma and Evie sitting there with a purple-haired child. Audrey’s mouth fell agape as she just stared silently for a while.

After a few moments, Mal rolled her eyes.

“Thorn, shut your mouth before flies go in and lay eggs,” Mal instructed, and Audrey’s mouth quickly shut as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously in recognition. Audrey knew that absolutely no one on Earth called her Thorn outside of Mal. This kid had vibrantly purple hair, that signature mischievous look, and had just called her the nickname Mal exclusively used.

“What--- _you_!” Audrey pointed at Mal before her eyes widened and she looked at Evie and Uma.

“And you guys!” Audrey was totally shocked as she stared at the three of them. However, after only a moment, her face lit up in a grin and she started to laugh, hopping up and down in the midst of her excitement.

“Oooooohhhhh!!!! I WAS RIGHT!!!” Audrey cried victoriously, starting into a crazy happy dance. Jay watched her with wide eyes, surprised at how quickly his girlfriend’s mood turned around but perfectly wiling to go with the change.

“I was so, so, so, so right! Yes, baby! What’s my name?!”

“Quit using my catchphrase,” Uma told her shortly, unimpressed with the other girl’s antics.

“What’s my name?! AUDREY!!! I was so right!” Audrey grinned, dancing about as she was fully pleased with herself.

“Evie, you are so full of it! And I knew it! You are so full of crap! And you get onto Mal for lying so much!” Audrey proclaimed with a nigh insane laugh of joy and victory.

“Weren’t you just picking on Jay?” Mal suggested, and Jay glared at Mal in irritation, silently conveying that the girl should keep her mouth shut and not give Audrey any ideas.

“Yeah, but he can wait, because right now, I’m right!!!” Audrey giggled excitedly.

“I knew you were lying to me, Uma! There _was_ something in Evie’s sewing room! Or should I say some _one_? I don’t know how, but Mal was definitely in there somewhere!” Audrey pointed out happily, and Uma rolled her eyes.

“What? You want a gold medal for a lucky guess?” Uma asked, and Audrey stopped in her antics and tossed her hair confidently.

“Oh, trust me. It wasn’t a lucky guess. And yes. I would like a gold medal, actually,” Audrey informed the pirate captain with a winning grin that was bordering upon wicked.

They all just stayed there in a somewhat uncomfortable silence for a few moments. That is, until Mal suddenly spoke up.

“Look, guys. I’m sorry for lying and asking Evie to lie,” Mal told them all, and they all nodded before turning their gaze to the bluenette sitting nearby the little girl.

“I’m sorry for lying, too,” Evie expressed, and Jay and Carlos eyed her skeptically.

“Okay. But would you do it again?” Jay asked, and Evie winced a little in response as Mal leaned against her leg lovingly. Evie held the little girl’s hand in her own firmly as she looked at the two boys somewhat regretfully.

“Do you want the true and honest answer?”

“Yes, please,” Carlos replied simply.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat if she asked me to,” Evie explained to them somewhat regretfully, and Jay and Carlos just shrugged, figuring that they had received the best that they were going to get from Evie surrounding that answer. Mal rested her head against Evie comfortably, and Evie leaned into Mal a bit.

“Yeah, and I guess I’m sorry, too,” Uma expressed honestly, pursing her lips slightly as she regarded all of them.

“Why did _you_ do it?” Carlos innocently questioned. Uma quickly folded her arms in front of her chest, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

“Well, because. You know me,” Uma responded shortly.

“No offense, Uma, but I think that you usually only lie when there’s something in it for you,” Evie pointed out, and Uma narrowed her eyes at Evie as she glared a bit.

“How am I not supposed to take offense to that?”

“So that must mean that you did it because you care,” Evie concluded, releasing Mal, and Uma shook her head, rolling her eyes as she attempted to push past Evie’s statement.

“Care, pfft. I don’t care. I don’t care about anything.”

“Awww, you guys, she cared!” Evie cried suddenly before suddenly reaching out and grabbing Uma.

“What exactly did I care about?”

“Mal and her reputation!” Evie cooed sweetly, squeezing Uma tightly. Uma slightly patted Evie on the back, the bluenette obviously not getting the message that Uma did not want to be hugged by her.

“Evie, honey, you’ve got exactly five seconds to get your arms away from me,” Uma informed her, and Evie just smiled winningly as she refused to release. Uma groaned, looking up and starting to count.

“Three,” Uma started to count ahead, and Evie gave her one more squeeze before releasing her.

“Now, can you guys help me find the spell in this book?” Mal questioned, offering them all the adorable pouty lip that Evie had so gushed over. Everyone inevitably gave in, unable to resist how cute she looked, and Mal knew at that moment that all was forgiven.

Jay, Carlos, and Jane sat on one side of Evie with Mal in Evie’s lap as they closely examined the spell book held in the toddler’s hands. Ben was leaned over Evie’s head looking at the book. Uma along with Harry and Gil were on Evie’s other side, examining it.

Before long, they all spotted the spell down at the very bottom scrawled in a bit messily. It was just below the spirit animal spell that Evie had so terribly read aloud once before.

“Look, there it is!” Ben pointed around Evie and Mal at the base of the page and Mal grinned widely in relief, looking up at Evie happily. Evie looked down at Mal lovingly.

“You ready, M?”

“I was born ready,” Mal replied shortly.

And Mal was just about to incant the spell when they were suddenly interrupted.

“Alright, this is ridiculous. What is it with you kids and waking me up?! I am thousands of years old and to wake up looking this good, I’ve got to have some beauty sleep!” a voice suddenly boomed, and they all looked up to behold the god of the Underworld himself standing there before them clad in only sleep pants, slippers, and an open robe. He had no makeup whatsoever.

After a moment, Hades’s eyes settled upon Mal in the center of the group on Evie’s lap. He just stared for a few moments, not uttering a single word. He blinked once, looking this scene over with tired eyes.

He then shook his head, wiping at his eyes before turning and heading out of the room with a certain familiar phrase on his lips.

“Welp, it’s that dream again.”

Mal, Evie, and Uma then immediately cracked up laughing, the rest of the group staring at them as if they had lost their minds.

And as Mal transformed back into her usual size and practically fell off of Evie’s lap onto the floor due to her restored size, she realized two things.

Number one: Mal was so lucky to have Uma and especially Evie.

And number two: Mal was never eating baby carrots again. Ever.


End file.
